Tourism spending in U.S. surged 8.1% last year, to $1.2 trillion

Reporting from Washington —  A record number of foreign visitors helped boost tourism spending in the U.S. last year by 8.1%, to $1.2 trillion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

There were 62 million foreign visitors to the U.S. in 2011, up 4% from the previous year. They spent a record $153 billion while visiting the country, according to new Commerce data.

American travelers account for the vast majority of tourism spending in the country. But Commerce Secretary John Bryson touted the increases in foreign visitors, which he said makes travel and tourism the nation’s top service export.

“Every year, tens of millions of tourists from all over the world visit America, and the more visitors we have, the more Americans we get back to work,” he said.

His agency estimated that travel spending supported 7.6 million U.S. jobs last year. In January, President Obama announced new steps to increase tourism in the U.S.

Canada and Mexico sent the most visitors to the U.S. last year. Visits from Canadians were up 5% in 2011 to an all-time high of 21 million, the Commerce Department said. International visits from Mexico were flat last year at 13.4 million, but tourists traveling to the U.S. from overseas increased by 6% to nearly 28 million.

Inflation was a big driver in the increased tourism spending. Taking higher prices into account, spending on tourism increased 3.5% in 2011, boosted by a surge in the last three months of the year, the Commerce Department said.

Real spending on travel and tourism increased at a 4.6% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of the year, up significantly from a 0.6% annualized rate in the previous quarter.

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