The United States Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries recently revealed data from this past August that points to a significant increase in international travel to the U.S.
According to the OTTI's official website, there were nearly 8.4 million total arrivals to the U.S. this past August, compared to just over 7.8 million in August 2013.
What's more, a total of 50.3 million travelers entered the U.S. from the start of the year through August. Data for the remaining months is still being compiled and the complete breakdown of 2014 will be available next year.
While the 8.4 million figure represents a seven percent increase over August 2013, it should be noted that the organization adjusted its method for counting overseas visitors from 2013 to 2014, making comparisons between the two years somewhat inaccurate.
The OTTI notes the following:
"With the inclusion of one-night stay travelers in 2014, year over year percent changes, 2014 vs. 2013, overstate the percent change volume for all overseas countries. 2014 and 2013 U.S. arrivals data from overseas countries are basically not comparable."
Meanwhile, the 1.1 million increase in U.S. visitors from July 2014 to August 2014 can be attributed to a significant rise in travelers from Canada.
According to the data, 36 percent of international travel to the U.S. came from Canada in August, compared to less than 32 percent the previous month. The jump from 2.3 million Canadian-based vistors in July to 3 million in August represents a 30 percent increase.
While the number of travelers from Mexico and overseas increased from July to August, their rate of increase paled in comparison.
Although the change in methodology for counting overseas visitors from 2013 to 2014 makes it difficult to draw accurate year-over-year conclusions from this data, there's still enough information to shed light on some interesting travel trends.
And with data for the rest of the year still to come, it's only a matter of time before we know even more.
Click here to view the OTTI's complete monthly tourism breakdown for the past two decades.
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