International tourism to the U.S. grows 9% in 2010

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After struggling through the worst recession in a generation, the American tourism industry enjoyed a 9% increase in foreign visitors last year.

In 2010, 60 million foreign travelers visited the U.S., compared with about 54 million in 2009, the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reported Wednesday.

Foreign visitors are crucial to the tourism industry because they typically stay longer and spend more than domestic travelers.

The largest increases in visitors came from China (53%), South Korea (49%), Brazil (34%) and Australia (25%), according to the report.

But the greatest number of foreign visitors to America still come from Canada, which had an 11% increase in 2010, with nearly 20 million visitors, and Mexico, which had a 1% increase last year, with about 13 million visitors, according to the tourism industries agency.

-- Hugo Martin