By Rob Baedeker – originally posted on forbestraveler.com
Where Americans Visit Most - Forbes - The top 20 foreign destinations of U.S. travelers
In a year when economic indicators took Grand Canyon-sized plunges, it should come as no surprise that fewer Americans jetted off to foreign lands than they did the previous year.
What may be surprising is that the decline in U.S. outbound travel wasn’t worse: Overall, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI), American travelers to foreign countries totaled 63.6 million in 2008, the last full year statistics are available, just a one percent decrease compared to 2007.
Whether the downward trend will continue throughout 2009 remains to be seen, but indicators are pointing towards further decreases. OTTI’s data through May of this year show an overall 7.7% decrease compared with the same time frame in 2008. Akashi says Japan is “expecting just a flat line of the number of U.S. travelers this year,” and Fitch says Mexico had “a slight reduction of international visitors (1.9 percent) from January to May 2009.”
However, the ranking of overseas destinations is likely to be unchanged. read more »
