Impact of Travel & Tourism on the U.S. and State Economies

U.S. Key Findings

• The U.S. travel and tourism industry supported 7.3 million jobs in 2004.
• The U.S. travel and tourism industry added 71,600 jobs between 2003 and 2004, the first increase in employment since 2000.
• Employment in the U.S. travel and tourism industry fell by 156,300 jobs between 1999 and 2004.
• The travel and tourism industry accounted for 5.6 percent of total non-farm employment in the United States in 2004.
• The largest travel and tourism industry segment by jobs was food services, employing 2.4 million people in 2004.
• The nation’s lodging industry employed 1.2 million people and the entertainment/recreation industry employed 1.1 million people in 2004.
• Employment dropped in travel planning, public transportation, and general retail between 2003 and 2004.
• Entertainment/recreation, lodging, auto transportation, and food services added jobs between 2003 and 2004.
• Employment generated by international travel jumped by 69,500 jobs between 2003 and 2004, the first increase since 2000.

• U.S. travel and tourism generated $599 billion in expenditures in 2004.
• U.S. travel and tourism expenditures increased from $542 billion in 1999 to $599 billion in 2004, not adjusted for inflation.
• The food services segment accounted for $131 billion in travel and tourism expenditures in 2004, the largest industry segment.
• Public transportation totaled $101 billion and lodging $94 billion in travel and tourism expenditures in 2004.
• Expenditures related to international travelers rose for the first time since 2000, from $64.5 billion in 2003 to $74.8 billion in 2004. This is an encouraging sign that international visitors are beginning to return to the United States.

• The payroll of the U.S. travel and tourism industry totaled over $163 billion in 2004.
• Travel and tourism industry payroll rose by 2.3 percent between 2003 and 2004, not adjusted for inflation.
• The largest travel and tourism segment by payroll was public transportation at $41 billion in 2004, representing over one-quarter of all travel generated payroll.

• U.S. travel and tourism generated $99 billion in taxes in 2004. This tax revenue includes all levels of government --- federal, state, and local.
• The majority of this tax revenue was generated by domestic travel and tourism and collected at the federal level, which received $49.2 billion in 2004.
• U.S. travel and tourism generated tax revenue increased by $4.7 billion between 2003 and 2004, from $94.7 billion to $99.4 billion, respectively.
• International travelers generated $11.6 billion in U.S. tax revenue in 2004. This represents an increase of 12.7 percent from 2003.