China Tourism Stall Leads to U.S. Drop in Foreign Visitor Spending
Photo Credit: Central Park in New York City is shown in July of 2018. International spending in the United States dropped last year, according to new research, but the country still has the largest travel and tourism economy in the world. Flickr / Alex Proimos
Skift Take
Even though official government data is still unavailable for 2018, reports show the United States is losing ground when it comes to international tourism — and especially key markets like China. What will it take to turn that trend around?
Lackluster growth in visitors to the United States is hitting the country where it hurts, according to a new report.
Research from the World Travel & Tourism Council shows that spending by international visitors dropped nearly 1 percent year-over-year to $198.8 billion. That is largely due to a lack of growth in visitors from China, whose dollars makes up roughly 11 percent of all spending.
"After recording 10 years of stellar growth, international visitor numbers from China were flat year on year,
