Real spending (output) on travel and tourism accelerated in the third quarter of 2017, growing at an annual rate of 6.6 percent after increasing 6.0 percent (revised) in the second quarter, according to new statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The leading contributors to the acceleration in real spending were traveler accommodations and food and beverage services. Traveler accommodations accelerated, growing 13.5 percent in the third quarter after increasing 3.8 percent (revised) in the second quarter. Food and beverage services increased 0.6 percent after decreasing 1.4 percent (revised) in the previous quarter.
Prices for travel and tourism goods and services decreased 1.1 percent in the third quarter of 2017. This was a smaller decrease than the 3.2 percent (revised) decline in the second quarter. The decrease was largely attributable to the prices of traveler accommodations and passenger air transportation.
Employment in the travel and tourism industries decelerated, growing 1.2 percent in the third quarter of 2017 after increasing 2.1 percent (revised) in the previous quarter. Traveler accommodations was the leading contributor to the deceleration, losing approximately 800 employees in the third quarter of 2017 after adding 6,400 employees in the second quarter. Food and beverage services also contributed to the deceleration.
Due to budget constraints, BEA is discontinuing production of quarterly travel and tourism estimates. Annual estimates, published each June in BEA’s Survey of Current Business, will continue to be produced with support from the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. For more information, read the full report.