National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) | October 06, 2022

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

  • International visitors spent more than $13.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, 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.

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 $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.

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