Travel to and within the United States in April increased 3.6 percent year-over-year, according to the U.S. Travel Association, marking the 100th consecutive month of growth.
Business travel contributed heavily to the increase, spiking for a fourth consecutive month. This is the first four-month increase since January-April 2015.
Despite the growth, the United States lags behind many other nations in the international travel market. Nations with strong international travel growth include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and China.
“While travel overall is relatively healthy, particularly domestic business travel, the U.S. travel industry continues to register concern over a declining share of the global travel market,” David Huether, U.S. Travel senior vice president for research, said. “Business confidence was soft earlier in the economic recovery, but now we’re seeing a resurgence that is attributable in part to the recent tax cuts and a more favorable regulatory environment.”
International travel is forecasted to grow 3 percent through October while domestic travel overall is predicted to grow by an average of 2.4 percent year-over-year.
Increased trade tensions and rising oil prices, however, could curb this growth, U.S. Travel economists said.
The information in U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Trends Index was prepared by research firm Oxford Economics.