Today the  U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries announced that the number of international visitors to the United States continues to grown.  Measured results indicate  visits increased from 8 or the 10 largest national groups coming to the USA.  China’s total went up by greater and a third over the same period one year ago.  There were also healthy increases in USA visits to the country from both Japan and Brazil.  Even Mexico, our south of the border neighbor, show an increase of near 10%.

These stats bring me back to a continued sore point with international travel.  What is New York State doing to aid international tourism development in Western New York State, promote more and more carriers to set up shop at New York City’s JFK International airport or Newark’s Liberty International?  What about putting the  underutilized Niagara Falls International Airport to use?

At present a considerable numbers of Niagara Falls visitors fly into JFK and the visit this area by rented car, bus, train, or air travel.  There really is no reason it won’t work in reverse and at a more attractive cost to the airline on lowering airport costs and lower housing costs for flight crews.  A pretty attractive feature I would presume.  Particularly in an airline industry that is trying to extract extra pennies from anyone and everywhere.

One year ago, the web site Farecompare.com  one of the most crowded airport.  It had this to say about JFK:

JFK Airport, New York
Terminals 3 and 4 are consistently rated by travelers as being very crowded. If you are flying to New York, expect crowds no matter which of the three airports you use. LaGuardia, the smallest of The Big Apple’s three airports, is an alternative worth exploring, but consider the costs of getting into the city from LaGuardia in your comparisons.

An ABC-TV New report even called JFK’s Terminal 3 the worst in the world.

In Nov. of 2011 Travel and Leisure Magazine released its Top 10 list of U.S. airports with the worst flight delays.  Both New York City airport (JFK & EWR) made the list.  Flying into and out of either airport you have a 1 in 5 chance of being delayed.   Flights delays costs billions of dollars in losses  every year due to costs involving missed flight connections, waste of fuel, employee overtime, rescheduling of flight crews and passenger inconvenience.  Travel and Leisure had this to say:

No. 7 Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

Flights Delayed: 21.4%

Tying with O’Hare for on-time performance is kind of like winning an ugly dog contest. The consolation may be that while EWR offers basically the same chance of being late as it did last year, the airport still improved its rank by two slots.

Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.

Worst Time Window: 3–11 p.m., and at its very worst 9–11 p.m.

No. 5 John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

Flights Delayed: 21.6%

New York’s busiest airport had been making up for lost time over the past four years, but has been lagging recently. On-time performance fell almost two points this year, dragging it down from No. 8. You can bide your time, though, in the wine or martini bars.

Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.

Worst Time Window: 4–11 p.m.

I would suggest that Niagara Falls International Airport be promoted  as an alternative to JFK and nearby Newark International for those flights, scheduled and charter, that cater to family vacationers.  This area can certainly use the business.  Particularly since the unemployment rate in New York City is now 8.8% while in Niagara Falls it is 11.3% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The following is part of  the  U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries press release:

January 07, 2013

INTERNATIONAL VISITATION UP SEVEN PERCENT IN JULY 2012

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that 7.2 million international visitors traveled to the United States in July 2012, a seven percent increase over July 2011. July 2012 registered the 16th straight month of increases in total U.S. visits.

In July 2012, the top inbound markets continued to be Canada and Mexico with each market up six percent and 16 percent, respectively. Seven of the nine overseas regions were up in July 2012 (Asia +12%, South America +12%, Caribbean + 2%, Oceania +2%, Central America + 1%, Eastern Europe +1%, and Africa +16%) Western Europe and the Middle East registered the only declines, down four percent and 11 percent, respectively, in July 2012 compared to a year ago.

For the first seven months of 2012, visitation (37.6 million) was up six percent compared to the same period in 2011.

Highlights
Overseas Resident Visitation

• In July 2012, overseas resident visitation (3.1      million) was up three percent over July 2011.
• July YTD 2012, overseas resident visits (16.6 million)      were up seven percent compared to the same period of 2011.

Top 10 Countries

• In July 2012, eight of the top 10 countries posted      increases in resident visitation.
• During the first seven months of 2012, eight of the top      10 countries (sort based on July 2012) posted increases in visitation to      the United States.

Top 10 Countries (Sort based on July 2012)

Country of Residence	% Change July 2012 vs. 2011	% Change YTD July 2012 vs. 2011
Canada	6%	5%
Mexico	16%	7%
United Kingdom	-3%	-2%
Japan	12%	15%
People’s Republic of China (EXCL HK)	37%	40%
France	-7%	0%
Germany	4%	5%
Brazil	11%	18%
South Korea	0%	7%
Australia	8%	5%