USA. Travel to and within the US has grown over the last year, new research has found. September 2018 marked the 105th straight month of overall expansion, but the U.S. Travel Association has warned that this is likely to level off.
According to the travel industry body’s latest Travel Trends Index, US travel grew by +1.6% in the 12 months to September 2018.
But business travel, which registered a faster rate of growth than leisure travel in August, appears to have plateaued and domestic travel in September was almost entirely supported by leisure travel, which grew at a rate of +1.8%.
The international component showed +4.4% year-on-year growth, but with inbound having posted a sharp -2.2% drop in September of 2017, any year-over-year improvement is liable to appear overstated.
The U.S. Travel Association’s international Leading Travel Index predicts that the market will not expand any further in the next six months.
U.S. Travel Association Senior Vice President for Research David Huether said: “We’re seeing something of a perfect storm of factors that could suppress international demand for travel to the US.
“The US Ddollar has been on another very robust strengthening trend since April of this year, while the global economy has been cooling off considerably overall.
“That, coupled with political uncertainty in Europe and rising trade tensions, is a bad news recipe for inbound travel.”
