Foreign visitors spent $13.7 billion in US in August

According to data recently released by the US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), international visitors spent more than $13.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, in August 2022 – an increase of nearly 103% compared to August 2021.

Americans spent $13.4 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $360 million for the month—the second consecutive monthly balance of trade surplus for U.S. travel and tourism.

Year to date (January through August 2022), international visitors have spent more than $97.2 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services (up more than 105% when compared to the same period last year), injecting, on average, more than $400 million a day into the U.S. economy.

Travel Spending

Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $7.2 billion in August 2022 (compared to $2.0 billion in August 2021), an increase of 253% when compared to the previous year.

For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.5 billion in August 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 52% of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in August 2022.

Passenger Fare Receipts

Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $2.3 billion in August 2022 (compared to $1.1 billion in August 2021), an increase of 110% when compared to the previous year. 

For a pre-pandemic perspective, the United States exported nearly $3.3 billion in passenger air transportation services in August 2019. These receipts are expenditures by foreign residents on international flights of U.S. air carriers.

Passenger fare receipts accounted for 17% of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in August 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 August 2022 (compared to $3.6 billion in August 2021), an increase of 17% when compared to the previous year.

For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled $4.8 billion in August 2019.

Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 31% of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in August 2022.