
"Travel exports, on the other hand, continue to perform well. While February saw a slight decrease in travel exports (down to $18.8 billion from January's $18.9 billion), the deceleration was nowhere near the 1.6 percent decline in total national exports. In fact, travel exports as a percentage of U.S. goods and services increased in February to 10.1 percent, with more than 10 cents of every export dollar in February generated by travel.
"The travel trade surplus has remained constant, nearing six billion dollars for the tenth straight month. Without the travel trade surplus the February goods and services trade deficit would be 17 percent larger.
"With global destinations providing competitively priced goods and services, continued investments to improve our nation's roads, rails, ports and airports are more critical than ever to ensuring our strong standing in the international travel market. While we are making positive steps to enhance and improve the international customs entry process through the introduction of legislation such as the JOLT Act, still more can be done to improve the travel process on our soil."