Washington, D.C.
David Huether, senior vice president of economics and research at the U.S. Travel Association, provides analysis on the Commerce Department announcement on Sept. 11 that travel exports were $13.7 billion for July:
"The Commerce Department reported that overall U.S. exports of goods and services fell by $1.9 billion in July while imports fell a similar $1.8 billion, resulting in a slightly higher monthly trade deficit of $42 billion. Offsetting some of the declines in other areas, travel exports edged up in July by $30 million to a level of $13.7 billion. While the July increase in travel exports was not as large as the $130 million increase in June, the travel industry continues to make positive headway in export growth this year. Through the first seven months of the year, travel exports have risen by nine percent compared to the first seven months of 2011, much faster than the 5.3 percent rise in other exports of goods and services.
As a result of faster export growth, the travel industry has been responsible for 12 percent of our economy's overall export gain so far in 2012 compared to 2011 – close to double the travel industry's contribution to export growth this time last year. Bucking the overall trend of a widening trade deficit that expanded to -$329.7 billion through the first seven months of this year, the travel industry's trade surplus expanded five of the seven months so far in 2012 to $3.8 billion in July, the largest travel trade surplus since last October.
