If Hawaiian and Californian beaches decline, Japanese tourists can choose Australia's Gold Coast. Australia has been restoring eroded Gold Coast beaches and recently established a cabinet-level tourism minister to better compete for foreign tourists. The stiff competition for international tourists has resulted in a steady decline in the 1990's in the U.S. market share of world-tourism receipts, and this decline is expected to continue for the remainder of the decade. 6 Conclusions With travel and tourism being the largest industry, employer, and foreign-revenue earner in the United States and beaches the leading tourist destination, beach tourism plays a pivotal role in the U.S. economy. Foreign tourism clearly provides significant national benefits since it provides the Nation's largest trade surplus.
Foreign tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States and world.
However, it is very competitive, and the U.S. lead in attracting foreign tourism has been eroding. With over 90 percent of foreign-tourist spending concentrated in coastal states and with beaches the leading U.S. tourist destination, the state of America's beaches is key to maintaining the U.S. share of international tourism. The Federal government receives far more in tax revenues than it spends maintaining and restoring the Nation's beaches. To continue to be successful in competing for international tourism, America will have to maintain its beaches at the level that foreign competitors for tourism such as Spain maintain their beaches. Business Week , 1994.