The report provides in-depth analysis of the economic and consumer environments in five Latin American countries: Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Argentina. It details the demographics, spending habits and travel preferences of the nearly six million Latin American visitors to the U.S.

Not surprisingly, North America dominates the Latin American long-haul travel market. With a 43 percent market-share, the U.S. is, by far, the most popular long-haul destination for travelers from Latin America. Although Latin American travel to the U.S. declined again in 2003, it is forecast to grow by 3 percent in 2004. Looking further ahead, travel to the U.S. from some Latin American markets is forecast to rebound to 2000 levels much sooner than most other overseas markets.

Eighty-eight percent of Latin Americans (not including those from Mexico) who came to the U.S. in 2002 were repeat visitors. More than half had visited the U.S. twice or more in the previous year, and 84 percent had visited twice or more in the past five years.

The report also analyzes trends that are likely to affect travel from Latin America in the future. For example, the region also has a relatively young and growing workforce, in stark contrast to the shrinking workforces of many other international markets. Tighter U.S. travel restrictions threaten to drive up the European share of this market at the expense of the U.S.

The Latin America study is the third in a series of in-depth TIA reports that profiles the outbound travel markets from several world regions. Other reports in the series include: Europe Travel Demand: Trends and Insights, 2003 Edition and Asia-Pacific Travel Demand: Trends and Insights, 2003 Edition.

Travel Industry Association of America
TIA (www.tia.org) is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $529 billion travel industry. TIA�s mission is to represent the whole of the U.S. travel industry to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States.
|
Contact:
Cathy Keefe (Manager, Media Relations)
202-408-2183
ckeefe@tia.org / www.tia.org