Foreign visitors spent $16.5 billion on US travel in December 2022

International visitors spent nearly $16.5 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States

The US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) has released data for December 2022, showing that international visitors spent nearly $16.5 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of nearly 49 percent compared to December 2021 and the single highest month for US tourism-related exports since February 2020—the onset of the global pandemic.

Americans spent more than $15.5 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $932 million for the month.

A summation of the twelve months in 2022 (preliminary data, subject to future revisions) suggests that international visitors spent nearly $162.6 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services, nearly doubling (up 96%) the amount spent in 2021.

International visitors injected, on average, more than $445 million a day into the U.S. economy in 2022.

Composition of Monthly Spending (Travel Exports)

Travel Spending

• Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $9.1 billion in December 2022 (compared to $5.4 billion in December 2021), an increase of 68 percent when compared to the previous year.
• For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.8 billion in December 2019. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.
• Travel receipts accounted for 55 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2022.

Passenger Fare Receipts

• Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.2 billion in December 2022 (compared to $2.0 billion in December 2021), an increase of 62 percent when compared to the previous year.
• For a pre-pandemic perspective, the United States exported nearly $3.4 billion in passenger air transportation services in December 2019. These receipts are expenditures by foreign residents on international flights of U.S. air carriers.
• Passenger fare receipts accounted for 20 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2022.

Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker Spending