News Release: U.S. Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts
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EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
| Technical: | Paul Kern: | (202) 606-9596
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BEA 07-44 |
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| Sarah Mattingly: | 606-9286 | |||
| Media: | Ralph Stewart: | 606-9690 | ||
| E-mail inquiries: | industrysatellites@bea.gov | |||
REAL DIRECT TOURISM OUTPUT GREW 0.9 PERCENT IN SECOND QUARTER 2007
Real direct tourism output increased at an annual rate of 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real direct tourism output increased 2.1 percent (revised). Growth turned down in traveler accommodations while growth in overall transportation output remained strong in the second quarter. By comparison, real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 4.0 percent (preliminary) in the second quarter of 2007 and 0.6 percent (final) in the first quarter of 2007.
Direct tourism employment rose 2.6 percent in the first quarter of 2007 (the most recent period for which data are available), slower than the 3.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2006. By comparison, overall U.S. employment grew 1.5 percent in both the first quarter of 2007 and fourth quarter of 2006.
Other highlights from this release include:
- Passenger air transportation fell 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007 following growth of 7.1 percent in the first quarter of 2007 (revised). International passenger air transportation decreased significantly in the second quarter.
- A downturn in passenger air transportation was offset by strong growth in all other transportation-related commodities which grew 10.2 percent in the second quarter of 2007 following growth of 2.2 percent in the first quarter (revised). Travel arrangement and reservation services accelerated sharply.
- Traveler accommodations fell 2.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007 after slight growth of 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2007 (revised).
- Prices for tourism goods and services accelerated, increasing 8.1 percent in the second quarter of 2007 following a 2.6 percent increase (revised) in the first quarter. The second quarter increase largely reflects increases in petroleum prices.
In the second quarter of 2007, passenger air transportation fell 0.9 percent while traveler accommodations fell 2.9 percent. In the first quarter of 2007, passenger air transportation grew 7.1 percent while traveler accommodations rose 1.6 percent.
Prices for traveler accommodations increased 9.7 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the seventh straight quarter of price growth. Prices for passenger air transportation increased 4.7 percent in the second quarter of 2007. In the first quarter, passenger air transportation prices declined at an annual rate of 5.7 percent.
Employment in the traveler accommodations industry grew 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2007 (the latest period for which data are available), making it the fifth continuous quarter of employment growth in this industry. This growth, however, marked a deceleration from the fourth quarter of 2006 when employment in traveler accommodations grew 4.4 percent. Employment in the air transportation services industry continued its modest growth, increasing 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2007, the second consecutive quarter of positive growth after seven previous quarters of decline.
Total Tourism-Related Output. In the second quarter of 2007, total current-dollar tourism-related output of $1.3 trillion consisted of $732.0 billion of direct tourism output – output of goods and services sold directly to visitors and $557.6 billion of indirect tourism-related output – output of goods and services used to produce what visitors buy.
Total Tourism-Related Employment. In the first quarter of 2007 (the most recent period for which data are available), total tourism-related employment of 8.6 million consisted of 5.9 million direct tourism jobs – jobs where workers produce goods and services sold directly to visitors and 2.7 million indirect tourism-related jobs – jobs where workers produce goods and services used to produce what visitors buy.
Definitions
Direct tourism output. Direct tourism output comprises all output consumed by visitors (e.g., traveler accommodations, passenger air transportation, souvenirs).
Indirect tourism-related output. Indirect tourism-related output comprises all output used as inputs in the process of producing direct tourism output (e.g., toiletries for hotel guests, the various ingredients used to make the meals served airline passengers, and the plastic used to produce souvenir key chains). Indirect tourism-related output is estimated using commodity-by-commodity output multipliers from the Current Industry Analysis Division.
Total tourism-related output. Total tourism-related output is the sum of direct tourism output and indirect tourism-related output.
Direct tourism employment. Direct tourism employment comprises all jobs where the workers are engaged in the production of direct tourism output (e.g., hotel staff, airline pilots, and souvenir sellers).
Indirect tourism-related employment. Indirect tourism-related employment comprises all jobs where the workers are engaged in the production of indirect tourism-related output (e.g., employees of companies that produce toiletries for hotel guests, the various ingredients used to make the meals served airline passengers, and the plastic used to produce souvenir key chains). Indirect tourism-related employment is estimated using industry-by-industry employment multipliers from the Regional Economic Analysis Division.
Total tourism-related employment. Total tourism-related employment is the sum of direct tourism employment and indirect tourism-related employment.
These estimates are from the Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts (TTSAs), which are supported by funding from the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The current-price estimates of direct tourism output were derived from BEA’s annual TTSAs (revised in June 2007) and current-dollar quarterly estimates of personal consumption expenditures from the NIPAs. The constant-price estimates of direct tourism output were developed using price indexes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and constant-price quarterly estimates of personal consumption expenditures from the NIPAs. The estimates of direct tourism employment were derived from the annual TTSAs (revised in June 2007) and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from BLS. Employment data are available five to six months after the end of the reference quarter.
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Next release – Travel and Tourism estimates for third quarter 2007 will be released on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. EST.
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