WITH all those circling airplanes, ever-bigger cruise ships and mega-hotels, it's apparent that travel is a big industry. But how big?
To find out, I tracked down statistics, both serious and whimsical, that illuminate humanity on the go. Many of the numbers are from the Travel Industry Assn. of America, or TIA, a nonprofit industry group based in Washington, D.C., that promotes travel.
Here are a few of the figures:
* 1.3 trillion: The travel industry's annual dollar contribution to the U.S. economy in 2004, according to the TIA.
This is a generous estimate, to be sure, because it counts not only money paid for airfare, hotel stays and other travel but also trickle-down effects. These include so-called induced expenditures -- basically, how industry employees spend their wages.
But even direct spending on travel in the U.S., which the TIA listed as $599 billion in 2004, is impressive.
* 99.4 billion: The tax revenue in dollars to local, state and federal governments in the U.S. generated by travelers' spending in 2004, according to the TIA.
* 43.3 million: Visitors that New York City expects to host this year, according to NYC & Co., a private nonprofit group that markets tourism for the Big Apple. That figure, 4.5% more than in 2005, would be a record.
The city claims to be the No. 1 destination for foreigners, with a 27% share of the U.S. market for such visits. Nearly 329,000 of the city's jobs are in the travel and tourism industry, accounting for 6.8% of the employment base.
* 818,700: Jobs in California that were generated by the travel industry in 2003 -- the most of any U.S. state, the TIA reported.
* 72 billion: The dollars spent by visitors to California in 2003.
* 306 million: People who have boarded Pirates of the Caribbean boats at Disneyland since the ride opened in 1967. More than 500 million people have passed through the gates of the Anaheim theme park since it opened in 1955.
* 1,027.5: Times per day, on average, that Disneyland plays the 48-second song "It's a Small World" on the ride of the same name. That's not counting "all the times the cast members play it when the park is closed," said Disney spokesman John McClintock. In case you wondered: You hear the song an average of 15.6 times on each ride.
