Shopping trip to the USA

What does the typical international visitor do when he or she arrives in the USA? In a new survey, more than 50% of foreign visitors say that shopping is their number one activity while visiting the USA. According to the survey of 2,500 foreign tourists, most visitors spend about $3,500 per person during their trip. They spend about a third of the money in retail stores – mostly on clothes. A typical shopping trip includes going to Macy’s or JC Penney to look at the Levi’s, Ralph Lauren and Diesel merchandise , and then eating at McDonald’s. These retailers and brands are the most popular with tourists and the most widely recognized. New York was the number one shopping destination followed by Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Atlanta. The survey focused on visitors from five countries: Australia and South Korea – which are growth markets for inbound tourism in the USA – and Brazil, China and India, which are emerging markets. There was also a second survey of visitors from Austallia, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Japan and Germany, which are the current top five markets for inbound tourism. Both surveys gave surprisingly similar results. After shops, the second most popular destination was parks – both natural parks and theme parks. Visiting museums, zoos and aquariums came next, and then eating out and going to concerts and theaters.