MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

International visitors sustainedly flocking to the US: 40.2 million in eight months

August marked eleventh straight month of increases

The United States Department of Commerce says the number of international visitors to the country is rising fast.

For the first eight months of this year, 40.2 million international visitors arrived in the United States, a 12% increase over the same last year, the Commerce department said in its latest report.

In August 2010, 6.4 million international visitors travelled to the U.S., an increase of 11% over August 2009. August 2010 registered the eleventh straight month of increases in U.S. arrivals.

International visitors, said the Commerce Department, spent 88.2 billion USD during the first eight months of this year, 10% percent more than the same period in 2009.

Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Italy, Australia, China, India, Colombia, Argentina and Sweden increased visitor numbers by double-digit figures over the first eight months of 2010.

The UK, Venezuela and Ireland were the only countries out of the top 20 visitor nations that registered declines