More than 62.7 million foreign tourists came to the U.S. in 2011, the most since 2001 when security measures following 9/11 terrorist attacks tightened visas.

That’s good news since they spent $153 billion with a b. But, we can’t always have good news because a detailed story in the Washington Post shows the U.S. has lost significant percentage of worldwide travelers to China and Australia.

Oh well, the good news is marketing efforts in the top nine foreign markets that send 75 percent of those coming to U.S. is working and visa delays have dropped significantly thanks to increased embassy personnel.

Canada sends one third of foreign travelers to our country followed by Mexico, Japan, U.K. and Japan respectively.

The Canadians spend the most overall at $24 billion, followed by Japan ($14.8 billion), U.K. ($12 billion), Mexico ($9.2 billion), China ($7.7 billion), Germany ($6.3 billion), France ($5 billion), Australia ($5 billion) and India ($4.4 billion).

New York gained the highest percentage of foreign travels with one-third of the market. Los Angeles draws 12.7 percent, Miami 10.6 percent and Washington 6.5 percent.