Tumbling dollar lures travellers by the hordes to US

This year the nation is on track to post the first increase in inbound travel since the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to the Travel Industry Association of America.

“What is fueling this is a combination of pent-up demand for travel to the US and phenomenal exchange rates,” said Cathy Keefe, a spokeswoman with the travel association.

The US dollar is near an all-time low against the euro, which began circulating in January 2002, and is close to a five-year low against the Japanese yen. The British pound is trading at nearly two to a dollar.

“It’s a big bargain to come out here. If you get a decent airfare you can go shopping and still be ahead of the game,” said Dieter Huckestein, president of hotel operations owned and managed at Hilton Hotels Corp.

He said business is up about 40 percent in Hawaii compared with a year ago, driven by Asian tourism, and hotel demand is also up substantially in New York and Florida as European visitors flock to the east coast.

After 2001, travel to the United States plummeted amid terrorism fears compounded by a worldwide economic slump, the build-up to the war in Iraq and the war itself.

The trade association projects that the nation will host 43.5 million international tourists this year, up 7.5 percent from last year. In 2000, the total of foreign visitors reached 51 million.

Through September, US inbound travel was up 12.5 percent compared to a year earlier, while travel from Western Europe was up 15.3 per cent and visits from Asia rose 22.5 per cent. —Reuters