Good news for US tourism

US tourism was doing brisk business in the third quarter and coming within reach of pre-recession peaks, according to the US government. Total sales in the tourism industry rose 16.2% to $747.8 billion, up from the second quarter’s $720.2 billion, said the Commerce Department. The latest figure was only 0.5% below the fourth quarter of 2000. “Leading the growth in sales were the two largest tourism industries: air transportation, and hotels and lodging,“ the report said. In more good news for the industry, the monthly AAA National Travel Barometer showed the sixth straight month of increased bookings. It cited large increases in cruise and vacation tour bookings. Cruise and tour bookings were up 10% over the previous year. For November, overall travel bookings increased 3% in November compared to a year ago. Car rental reservations and hotel bookings, however, were still a few percentage points below a year ago.