Year-to-date tourism exports total $168 billion, on pace for record-setting 2017
WASHINGTON – The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) today announced that international visitors spent an estimated $21.3 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of August, an increase of nearly 5 percent when compared to August 2016. In fact, travel and tourism-related exports have exhibited growth each month of 2017, reversing nine consecutive months of declines that began in April 2016.
International visitors have spent $167.7 billion on travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through August 2017), an increase of more than 3 percent when compared to the same period last year; conversely, Americans have spent an estimated $113.7 billion abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of more than $54.0 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 $13.3 billion during August, an increase of more than 4 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 62 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during August 2017.
- Passenger Fare Receipts: Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.2 billion for the month, an ever-so-slight increase (0.1%) when compared to August 2016. Passenger fare receipts accounted for 15 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during the month.
- Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker(1): Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers, totaled $4.8 billion in August, an increase of 10 percent when compared to the previous year. Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker receipts accounted for 23 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during August 2017.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Travel and Tourism Office and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.(1)
(1) In June 2014 the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) completed the most comprehensive restructuring of the U.S. international economic accounts since 1976 in an effort to bring our international accounts into closer conformity with international guidelines. As a result, BEA now uses a broader definition of travel that includes education-related and health-related travel and expenditures on goods and services by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers. Therefore, all travel and tourism-related trade data have been revised back to 1999. To learn more, please visit: http://travel.trade.gov/pdf/restructuring-travel.pdf
