"December was a good month for the travel industry. After falling two of the three prior months, employment in the travel industry rebounded in December and rose by 7,000 to a level of 7,528,000.
"The travel industry accounted for seven percent of the 1.6 million jobs created during the past 12 months. Over the last year, the travel industry expanded its employment base by 119,000 - doubling the jobs created by construction and real estate industries combined.
"Supporting good-paying American jobs that cannot be outsourced abroad, the travel industry has created jobs at a faster rate (2.9%) than the rest of the economy (2%) since the overall employment recovery began in March of 2010. Increasing travel to and within the United States is a key ingredient to providing the job opportunities for the 13 million Americans who continue to be unemployed."