More International Visitors to Be Welcomed in U.S.

The United States can expect 4 percent average annual growth in tourism during the next five years after four years of strong growth in the number of international visitors.

The United States can expect 4 percent average annual growth in tourism during the next five years, and a record 72.2 million foreign travelers are projected to visit the United States in 2014, the Commerce Department said in an April 7 news release.

The department predicts continued strong growth through 2018 following four consecutive years of record visitor volume. Above, a visitor captures an image of the Saturn 1B rocket on display at the Alabama Visitor Center in Ardmore, Alabama, one of many displays from the U.S. space program located around the United States.

“A record number of international visitors continue to choose the United States as their travel destination,” said Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. “The Obama administration is committed to building on this success, and meeting the challenge President Obama laid out in his National Travel and Tourism Strategy to welcome 100 million international visitors to the United States and grow our economy by $250 billion by 2021.”

All of the top 20 visitor-origin sources are forecast to grow from 2013 through 2018. The largest growth percentages come from China (139 percent), Colombia (56 percent), India (54 percent), Taiwan (52 percent), Brazil (50 percent) and Argentina (48 percent).

The Commerce Department also said 69.8 million international visitors traveled to the United States in 2013.