News Release
Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts, 4th quarter 2013
TRAVEL AND TOURISM SPENDING ACCELERATED IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2013
Real spending on travel and tourism accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2013, increasing at an annual rate of 4.2 percent after increasing 3.1 percent (revised) in the third quarter of 2013. In contrast, growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) decelerated, increasing 2.4 percent (second estimate) in the fourth quarter after increasing 4.1 percent in the third quarter. For the year, real spending on travel and tourism increased 3.6 percent in 2013 after increasing 2.8 percent in 2012. By comparison, real GDP increased 1.9 percent in 2013 after increasing 2.8 percent in 2012.
The leading contributors to the acceleration in the fourth quarter were “traveler accommodations,” and “food services and drinking places.” “Traveler accommodations” accelerated, increasing 14.5 percent in the fourth quarter after increasing 3.3 percent in the third quarter. “Food services and drinking places” also accelerated in the fourth quarter, increasing 7.7 percent after no change in the third quarter.
Overall growth in prices for travel and tourism goods and services decelerated in the fourth quarter of 2013, increasing 0.1 percent following a 3.9 percent (revised) increase in the third quarter. The deceleration in prices was driven by “traveler accommodations,” decreasing 8.0 percent in the fourth quarter after decreasing 3.0 percent in the third quarter. For the year, prices for travel and tourism goods and services increased 0.4 percent in 2013 after increasing 2.5 percent in 2012.
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Employment in the travel and tourism industries accelerated, increasing 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 after increasing 1.8 percent (revised) in the third quarter. By comparison, overall U.S. employment increased 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter after increasing 1.6 percent in the third quarter. For the year, employment in the travel and tourism industries increased 2.2 percent in 2013 after increasing 2.7 percent in 2012. By comparison, overall U.S. employment increased 1.7 percent in 2013 and in 2012.
Real Tourism Spending. Real spending on "traveler accommodations" accelerated, increasing 14.5 percent in the fourth quarter after increasing 3.3 percent in the third quarter. The increase was primarily driven by group and corporate revenue growth. Real spending on “food services and drinking places” also accelerated, increasing 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter after no change in the third quarter.
Tourism Prices. Prices for "traveler accommodations" decreased 8.0 percent in the fourth quarter, after decreasing 3.0 percent in the third quarter. In contrast, prices for "passenger air transportation" accelerated, increasing 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter after increasing 5.7 percent in the third quarter. Strong holiday demand was reflected by an increase in passenger unit revenue.
Tourism Employment. Employment in the travel and tourism industries accelerated in the fourth quarter, increasing 2.8 percent after increasing 1.8 percent in the third quarter. The primary contributors to the acceleration in employment were increases in “recreation, entertainment, and shopping” and “transportation.”
Total Tourism-Related Spending in the U.S. includes the goods and services that are purchased directly by tourists and also a portion of the goods and services produced by the supply chain that supports tourism activity; for example, a firm that supplies linens to hotels and restaurants.
In the fourth quarter of 2013, total current-dollar tourism-related spending was $1.5 trillion and consisted of $915.0 billion (59 percent) of direct tourism spending — goods and services sold directly to visitors — and $625.0 billion (41 percent) of indirect tourism-related spending — goods and services used to produce what visitors purchase.
Total Tourism-Related Employment was 8.1 million jobs in the fourth quarter of 2013 and consisted of 5.8 million (71 percent) direct tourism jobs — jobs where workers produce goods and services sold directly to visitors — and 2.3 million (29 percent) indirect tourism-related jobs — jobs where workers produce goods and services used to produce what visitors purchase.
Definitions
Tourism spending. Tourism spending comprises all goods and services purchased by tourists (defined as people who travel for any reason). In the following tables, tourism spending is referred to as direct tourism output.
Indirect tourism-related spending. Indirect tourism-related spending comprises all output used as inputs in the process of producing direct tourism output (e.g., toiletries for hotel guests and the plastic used to produce souvenir key chains).
Total tourism-related spending. Total tourism-related spending is the sum of direct tourism spending and indirect tourism-related spending.
Direct tourism employment. Direct tourism employment comprises all jobs where the workers are engaged in the production of direct tourism output (such as hotel staff, airline pilots, and souvenir sellers).
Indirect tourism-related employment. Indirect tourism-related employment comprises all jobs where the workers are engaged in the production of indirect tourism-related output (e.g., employees of companies that produce toiletries for hotel guests and the plastic used to produce souvenir key chains).
Total tourism-related employment. Total tourism-related employment is the sum of direct tourism employment and indirect tourism-related employment.
These statistics are from BEA’s Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts (TTSAs), which are supported by funding from the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The current-price statistics of direct tourism output were derived from BEA’s annual TTSAs and from current-price quarterly statistics of personal consumption expenditures from the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs). The real statistics of direct tourism output were developed using price indexes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and real quarterly statistics of personal consumption expenditures from the NIPAs. The statistics of direct tourism employment were derived from the annual TTSAs (revised in June 2013) from BEA, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), and Current Employment Statistics (CES) from BLS.
Quarterly statistics are seasonally adjusted and expressed at annual rates, unless otherwise specified. Percent changes are calculated from unrounded data and annualized. Real values are in chained (2005) dollars. Price indexes are Fisher chain-type measures. Growth in overall U.S. employment is calculated using BLS total nonfarm employment from Current Employment Statistics, www.bls.gov/ces/home.htm#data.
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Next release – Travel and Tourism statistics for first quarter 2014 will be released on Friday, June 27, 2014 at 8:30 A.M. EDT.
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