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.
