NTTO | March 20, 2023

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in January 2023:

  • 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 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
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Travel receipts accounted for 54 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2023.
  • Passenger Fare Receipts
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 18 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2023.
  • Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker Spending
    • 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.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled more than $4.8 billion in January 2019.
    • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 29 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2023.

Interested in an interactive data visualization of these statistics? Please visit our Monthly Travel Trade Monitor for a more comprehensive and customizable experience.