The U.S. business and leisure travel sector continued to perform well in 2016, however a global tourism and travel body's latest report suggests inbound travel looks less certain going forward, as U.S. dollar strength and anti-foreign sentiment is thought to dampen growth figures.
On Monday, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released its annual Economic Impact Research report for 2017. In its U.S. report, the WTTC showed that the country's travel and tourism sector provided $1.5 trillion to the economy in 2016 and supported more than 14 million jobs.
However for 2017, the WTTC forecasts growth in the country's travel and tourism sector to come in at 2.3 percent, slower than 2016's rate of 2.8 percent.
The WTTC revealed that a key contributor to this deceleration was to do with what was going on domestically, however President Donald Trump's policies on immigration and travel could also have an effect on the sector.
"The U.S. overall is still 20 percent of the travel and tourism industry – so it is huge and we see a certain slowing this year," David Scowsill, CEO and president of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), told CNBC Monday.
"Less to do with the Trump-proposed travel ban, but more to what's going on domestically, with inflation, with disposable income going down a little bit – so that's the big impact."
"Inbound to the U.S., it's the strength of the dollar, so it's much more expensive for people to go this year – so you'll see some effect of that, and the Trump ban is not helpful," Scowsill added.