2. ... ONE OF AMERICA’S LARGEST SERVICE EXPORTS!  $93.3 billion* spent by international visitors in the U.S. and the…  $89.3 billion ** spent outside the U.S. by domestic travelers creates…  $4.0 billion in BALANCE OF TRADE SURPLUS for the U.S. Source: Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), U.S. Dept. of Commerce Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, World Tourism Organization.

3. ... ONE OF AMERICA’S LARGEST EMPLOYERS!  $163 billion direct travel-generated PAYROLL.  7.3 million direct travel-generated JOBS.  One of every eight U.S. non-farm jobs is directly and indirectly created by travel and tourism.  Total non-farm U.S. employment is 131.4 million people.

4. ... ONE OF AMERICA’S LARGEST RETAIL SALES INDUSTRIES!  $599.2 billion direct TRAVEL EXPENDITURES including international travelers.  $99.4 billion TAX REVENUE directly generated for local, state, and federal governments  Each U.S. household would pay $923 MORE IN TAXES without the tax revenue directly generated by the travel and tourism industry.  Direct spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averaged $1.6 billion a day, $68 million an hour, $1.1 million a minute, and $19 thousand a second

5.  that approximately 2.6 million hotels rooms are sold everyday in the United States. That is enough rooms to lodge every person living in San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Miami, and Denver combined.  that the Travel and Tourism industry is one of the country's largest employers with 7.3 million direct travel-generated jobs? You could fill the Orange Bowl stadium a hundred times over with people directly employed in the industry.

6. that each U.S. household would pay $923 more taxes without the tax revenue generated by the Travel and Tourism Industry? $923 will buy two months worth of groceries for a family of four, will fill the average car with gas 35 times or will pay for a family beach vacation. that Travel and Tourism is a $1.3 trillion industry in the United States? If one dollar bill equaled a second of time, then $1.3 trillion would equal over 41,000 years.

7. that Travel and Tourism generates $100 billion in tax revenue for local, state, and federal governments? If you place 100 billion dollar bills end-to-end, they would circle the world 397 times.

8.  Economic Multiplier: The process of how money filters through a local economy and is spent and re-spent, creating income form other businesses.  The amount of the multiplier depends on how much money the tourists spend per year.  How much is spent on imported goods so the revenue ends up in foreign economies.

9.  Example:  An American tourist in Brazil spends $100 on a hotel room.  The hotel owner spends $100  $40 employee wages.  $20 produce from local farmer.  $20 imported food for hotel restaurant.  $20 profit.  The Employee spends $40:  $20 imported shoes.  $10 groceries.  $10 savings.  The local farmer spends $20  $10 imported fertilizer.  $10 savings.