For 2010, the U.S. lodging industry posted pre-tax profits of $18 billion-up from 16 billion in 2009-and $127.7 billion in sales-up slightly from $127.2 billion in 2009, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) Lodging Industry Profile (LIP), an annual statistical analysis of the industry.
The percentage of international travelers to the U.S. increased nine percent from 54.9 million in 2009 to a record 59.7 in 2010; arrivals from overseas travelers increased by 11 percent to record 26.4 million. The top 10 countries in terms of U.S. arrivals for 2010 were Canada (20 million), Mexico (13.4 million) the United Kingdom (3.9 million), Japan (3.4 million), Germany (1.7 million), France (1.3 million), Brazil (1.2 million), South Korea (1.1 million), Australia (904,000), and Italy (838,000). These 10 countries accounted for 80 percent of U.S. international visitors.
“After several years of declining sales, streamlining budgets, and leaner staffs, 2010 finally was the industry’s transitional year,” says AH&LA president and CEO Joe McInerney. “Although it didn’t happen as quickly as many had hoped, the numbers show that our cyclical industry has officially transitioned back to the road of profitability.”
Other information in the report includes:
- A detailed breakdown of the 51,015 U.S. hotels by room number, size, location, and nightly rate;
- The travel and tourism industry pays $188 billion in travel-related wages and salaries and employs 1.76 million hotel property workers;
- Profiles of the typical lodging consumer who traveled for business compared to those who traveled for leisure.
The complete 2011 AH&LA Lodging Industry Profile is available on AH&LA’s Information Center webpage.
