According to the newly developed travel and tourism satellite accounts (TTSA's) released for the first time by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, spending by U.S. residents and nonresidents traveling in the United States accounted for 5 percent of gross domestic product in 1992. The new accounts provide the best picture yet developed of the importance of travel and tourism spending in the U.S. economy; the data in the new report are based on BEA's 1992 benchmark input-output accounts. In the new accounts, travel and tourism activity is defined as purchases by travelers of air fares, lodging, meals and beverages, recreation, shopping, and other travel activities.

Of the approximately $300 billion in travel and tourism spending, the largest single expenditure was for airline fares ($81 billion), which was followed by lodging ($56 billion) and by meals and beverages (approximately $50 billion). The TTSA's, which designate the industries that are considered travel and tourism industries, show that travel and tourism spending generated employment in these industries that accounted for about 3 percent of total employment.

The new accounts also distinguish expenditures by type of traveler. U.S. resident households accounted for 45 percent of travel expenditures, government and business accounted for 34 percent, and nonresidents accounted for 21 percent.

Estimates of travel and tourism activities provide a means of comparing them with other activities in the U.S. economy and with such activities in other countries. Satellite accounts provide measures of an economic activity in this case travel and tourism that are consistent with measures of overall economic activity. The new satellite accounts also will facilitate research on the impact of travel and tourism on the economy.

The TTSA's were developed as a prototype by BEA with cooperation and support from the Tourism Industries Office, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Additional information about the TTSA's appear in the July 1998 issue of the Survey of Current Business. Information on how to order the Survey of Current Business is provided below.

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