Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in October 2022:
- International visitors spent more than $15.8 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of more than 112 percent compared to October 2021 and the highest level of (monthly) spending since the onset of COVID in February 2020.
- Americans spent nearly $15.8 billion traveling abroad, yielding an ever-so-slight balance of trade surplus of $58 million for the month—a much-welcomed reversal following a more than $1 billion trade deficit in September for travel and tourism.
- Year to date (January through October 2022), international visitors have spent more than $129.9 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services (up more than 110% when compared to the same period last year), injecting, on average, more than $427 million a day into the U.S. economy.
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 $8.8 billion in October 2022 (compared to $2.7 billion in October 2021), an increase of 225 percent when compared to the previous year.
- For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.7 billion in October 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 October 2022.
- Passenger Fare Receipts
- Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $2.9 billion in October 2022 (compared to $1.1 billion in October 2021), an increase of 151 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 October 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 October 2022.
- 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 October 2022 (compared to $3.6 billion in October 2021), an increase of 16 percent when compared to the previous year.
- For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled nearly $4.9 billion in October 2019.
- Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 26 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in October 2022.
Interested in an interactive data visualization of these statistics? Please visit our Monthly Travel Trade Monitor for a more comprehensive and customizable experience.
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