Tourism is growing worldwide. The number of people traveling is increasing every year and especially the Asian market represents an important resource for most tourism destinations, as the boom, there has been the most significant one in the past years. However, not every destination enjoys the boom in its full strength and quite surprisingly, one of these is the United States.
According to data from ForwardKeys, the number of arrivals in the USA from the Asia-Pacific decreased by 3.2% in 2018. One of the reasons for this is the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii, which is a destination favored by Japanese travelers.
Moreover, the inflow of Chinese travelers remained roughly the same compared to the year before. Some consider the reason for this being Donald Trump’s policies and general restrictions in terms of foreign arrivals. Others point out the ongoing ‘trade war’ between the two countries as one of the reasons. Generally said, the Asia-Pacific represents an important part of the U.S. arrivals market – 20%.
On the bright side for America, more European tourists traveled to the country last year. A rise of 3.2% was registered, despite the number of German visitors falling by 8.7% compared to 2017. Overall, the U.S. arrivals worldwide increased by 1%.
European countries with the highest growth rate in terms of arrivals were Ireland (14.1%), Spain (11.8%) and Italy (10.5%). 12.8% more Brazilians arrived in the U.S. last year, as well as 10.3% more Colombians. This has resulted in a 1.3% growth of arrivals from the Americas.
In terms of regions, the South of the United States represents the largest tourism share – 36%, with a modest growth (0.7%) compared to 2017. Meanwhile, the popularity of the West and Midwest grew by 2% and 4.1%, respectively. The Northeast saw a growth of 2.8% to a share of 26%.
New York City remained the most popular destination of the country for international visitors with a 2.1% growth in terms of arrivals. The fastest growing destinations are Fort Lauderdale (12.8%), and Detroit (12.5%), while Seattle in the West saw a growth of 6.8%.