National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) | June 24, 2024

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in April 2024:

  • International visitors spent more than $20.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of nearly 13 percent compared to April 2023 and surpassing pre-COVID levels of monthly spending realized in April 2019.
  • Conversely, Americans spent more than $20.1 billion traveling abroad during April, the 37th consecutive month of growth, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $561 million for travel and tourism-related goods and services.
  • International visitors have spent more than $83.3 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through April 2024), an increase of nearly 18 percent when compared 2023; international visitors have injected, on average, more than $694 million a day into the U.S. economy year to date.
  • U.S. Travel and tourism exports accounted for 22.8 percent of U.S. services exports during April 2024 and 7.9 percent of all U.S. exports, goods and services alike.

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 $11.4 billion during April 2024 (compared to $10.1 billion in April 2023), an increase of 13 percent when compared to the previous year. 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 April 2024.
  • Passenger Fare Receipts
    • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.4 billion in April 2024 (compared to $3.1 billion in the previous year), up 9 percent when compared to April 2023. These receipts represent expenditures by foreign residents on international flights provided by U.S. air carriers.
    • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 16 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during April.
  •  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 $5.9 billion in April 2024 (compared to $5.2 billion in April 2023), an increase of 14 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 29 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in April 2024.

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