US visitor numbers set to grow by 3.4% this year

Emily Pacey

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The number of travellers to the US from the UK, France and Germany is expected to fall in 2007

Air passenger forecast company Air4casts has predicted that passenger traffic to the US will grow by 3.4% to reach 44m visitors in 2007. Growth will mainly come from Canadian and Mexican travellers, who together account for more than half of all visitors to the US.

The number of visitors to the US from Europe, which accounts for almost one-quarter of all US arrivals, will grow by just 1% this year to 9.8m. The number of visitors from the UK, which make up 10% of all travellers to the US, is set to fall by 1% this year. The number of French and German travellers to the US is also in decline, with 2.7% fewer Germans and 4% fewer French expected to visit in 2007 than in 2006. However, the number of Spanish, Italian and Swedish visitors is set to rise by 7%, 3% and 2.1% respectively.

China is expected to provide the US with 500,000 visitors this year, up by 16% on 2006. Venezuela is set to show a 6.5% rise in the number of travellers to the US, while Japan should account for 4m visitors, up by 2% on last year.

According to Air4casts, the US tourism industry is set to regain its pre-September 11 2001 visitor levels this year. However, the company said in a statement that “the medium-term prospects for the [US] industry lack excitement. Europeans are not returning in strength and growth rates in the number of visitors from Canada and Mexico are falling. A bright spot is China.”