International visitors will reach 64 million in 2011 and “strong growth” is expected for the next five years, says the US Commerce Department.
Commerce bases that prediction on visitors who will stay at least one night in the US.
There was a record of almost 60 million visitors in 2010.
“According to the current forecast, the United States would see 6 percent to 8 percent annual growth rates in visitor volume over the 2012-2016 time frame. By 2016 this growth would produce 89 million visitors, a 49 percent increase and an additional 29 million visitors compared to 2010,” says Commerce.
Six countries are expected to account for three-fourths of the projected growth. They include Canada, Mexico, South Korea, China, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
“In fact, the expected growth from Canada would be larger than the total visitor volume for any other country in 2016, except Mexico,” Commerce says.
By David Wilkening
