US international visitation up 14 percent in March 2012

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that 5.4 million international visitors traveled to the United States in March 2012, a 14 percent increase over March 2011. March 2012 registered the 12th straight month of increases in total U.S. visits.

In March 2012, the top inbound markets continued to be Canada and Mexico. Visits from Canada increased six percent while arrivals from Mexico grew 17 percent. All nine top inbound overseas regional markets posted increases in visits in March 2012.

For the first three months of 2012, visitation (14.1 million) was up 10 percent compared to the same period in 2011.

Highlights

Overseas Resident Visitation

In March 2012, overseas resident visitation (2.3 million) was up 21 percent over March 2011.

March YTD 2012, overseas resident visits (6.1 million) were up 13 percent compared to the same period of 2011.
Top 10 Countries

In March 2012, all of the top 10 countries posted increases in resident visitation.

During the first three months of 2012, all of the top 10 countries (sort based on March 2012) posted increases in visitation to the United States.

Top 10 Countries (Sort based on March 2012)

Country of Residence % Change March
2012 vs. 2011 % Change YTD March
2012 vs. 2011

Canada 6% 7%
Mexico 17% 9%
Japan 21% 9%
United Kingdom 29% 10%
Germany 32% 22%
Brazil 5% 20%
France 6% 4%
South Korea 22% 12%
People’s Republic of China (EXCL HK) 55% 44%
Australia 22% 13%

Top Ports: YTD March 2012

YTD March 2012, visitation through the top 15 ports of entry accounted for 82 percent of all overseas visits-nearly one and a half percentage points below last year. The top three ports (Miami, New York and Los Angeles) accounted for 39 percent of all overseas arrivals, almost one and a half percentage points less than last year. Thirteen of the top 15 ports posted increases in arrivals during the first three months of 2012. Ten of these ports posted double-digit increases.