National Travel and Tourism Office Reports $14.7 Billion in Visitor Spend

International visitors spent more than $14.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of nearly 64 percent.

This is compared to January 2022 and marking the twenty-second consecutive month of year-over-year gains (when compared to the same month, previous year).

Americans spent more than $15.8 billion traveling abroad, more than any single month prior to the pandemic, yielding a balance of trade deficit of nearly $1.1 billion for the month. This was the third time in the past 6 months that travel and tourism ran a monthly trade deficit.

Preliminary data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis suggest that international visitors spent more than $164.5 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services in 2022, nearly doubling (up 98.3%) the amount spent in 2021; international visitors injected, on average, nearly $451 million a day into the U.S. economy in 2022.

Composition of Monthly Spending (Travel Exports)

•             Travel Spending

o             Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $7.9 billion in January 2023 (compared to $3.7 billion in January 2022), an increase of 114 percent when compared to the previous year.

o             For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.5 billion in January 2019. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.

o             Travel receipts accounted for 54 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2023.

•             Passenger Fare Receipts

o             Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $2.6 billion in January 2023 (compared to $1.5 billion in January 2022), an increase of 75 percent when compared to the previous year.

o             For a pre-pandemic perspective, the United States exported nearly $3.4 billion in passenger air transportation services in January 2019. These receipts are expenditures by foreign residents on international flights of U.S. air carriers.

o             Passenger fare receipts accounted for 18 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2023.

•             Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker Spending

o             Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers in the United States totaled $4.2 billion in January 2023 (compared to $3.8 billion in January 2022), an increase of nearly 11 percent when compared to the previous year.

o             For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled more than $4.8 billion in January 2019.

o             Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 29 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2023.