Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in December 2021:
• International visitors spent $10.4 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of 108% when compared to December 2020.
• Americans spent nearly $8.3 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $2.1 billion for the month—the second month in a row during which the United States enjoyed a balance of trade surplus for travel and tourism.
• International visitors spent nearly $80.1 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through December), a decrease of 5% when compared to total spending in 2020; conversely, Americans have spent an estimated $73.9 billion abroad, an increase of 51% when compared to the same period last year, yielding a balance of trade surplus of nearly $6.2 billion year to date.
Composition of Monthly Spending (Exports)
• Travel Receipts: Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $5.2 billion during December (compared to just under $1.1 billion in December 2020), an increase of more than 379 percent when compared to last year. For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled nearly $12.0 billion in December 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 precisely half (50%) of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during December.
• Passenger Fare Receipts: Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $1.8 billion for the month (compared to $3.4 billion and $589 million in 2019 and 2020, respectively), increasing nearly 203 percent when compared to December 2020. Passenger fare receipts accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during December.
• Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker: Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers, totaled more than $3.4 billion in December (compared to $4.8 billion and $3.3 billion in 2019 and 2020, respectively), an increase of nearly 3 percent when compared to December 2020. Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker receipts accounted for 33 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during December.
Interested in an interactive data visualization of these statistics? Please visit our Monthly Travel Trade Monitor for a more comprehensive and customizable experience!
