Mark Doms reports that while the US may not be much of a net exporter, we are a net recipient of travel spending with much more money being spent by foreigners coming to our fair shores than we send abroad:
This seems to have been really squeezed at the height of the recession, with American spending on foreign travel falling and foreigners’ spending on American travel falling much faster. Doms also notes that “we’ve seen our spending increase abroad at the same time that the number of U.S. citizens traveling overseas has declined – actually, it has fallen for three straight years.” The weaker dollar means the smaller number of American travelers are spending more.
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