After three months of stagnation, international travel to
the U.S. rebounded in June but the U.S. Travel Association has a “subdued”
outlook for the rest of 2016, based on its Travel Trends Index.
U.S. inbound travel actually bested domestic travel
on the Current Travel Index (albeit slightly) for the first time in 13 months, due
to an uptick in international air arrivals.
However, the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union,
and the subsequent fall of the British pound, is expected to weigh on international
travel in the coming months. Also, the strength of the dollar against the loonie is suppressing Canadian
travel to the U.S.
U.S. travel volume is expected to grow 1.6% for the final
six months of 2016, but that growth will be driven by domestic leisure travel, forecasts
the Travel Trends Index.
“Overall inbound travel will remain modest through the end
of the year. Domestic leisure travel will remain healthy as we move through the summer travel season,
while continued economic uncertainty will hold back business travel in the
coming months,” said Adam Sacks of Tourism Economics, the Oxford Economics division
that compiles data for U.S. Travel.
U.S. Travel/Oxford's Current Travel Index measures the direction and pace of travel volume to and within the U.S. on a monthly basis compared to the same month in the prior year. The index is comprised of a weighting of hotel room demand and air passenger enplanements.