National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) | January 16, 2023

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in November 2022:

  • International visitors spent more than $15.9 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of nearly 57 percent compared to November 2021.
  • Americans spent more than $15.2 billion traveling abroad, yielding an ever-so-slight balance of trade surplus of $703 million for the month.
  • Year to date (January through November 2022), international visitors have spent more than $146.0 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services (up more than 103% when compared to the same period in the previous year), injecting, on average, more than $437 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 $8.6 billion in November 2022 (compared to $4.9 billion in November 2021), an increase of 77 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.7 billion in November 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 November 2022.
  • Passenger Fare Receipts
    • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.2 billion in November 2022 (compared to $1.7 billion in November 2021), an increase of 88 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 November 2019. These receipts are expenditures by foreign residents on international flights of U.S. air carriers.
    • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 20 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in November 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 November 2022 (compared to $3.6 billion in November 2021), an increase of 15 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled nearly $4.9 billion in November 2019.
    • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 26 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in November 2022.

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