International Trade Administration | November 07, 2022

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

  • International visitors spent nearly $14.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of more than 110 percent compared to September 2021.
  • Americans spent $15.5 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade deficit of $802 million for the month—the third monthly balance of trade deficit for U.S. travel and tourism year to date in 2022.
  • Year to date (January through September 2022), international visitors have spent more than $112.1 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services (up more than 106% when compared to the same period last year), injecting, on average, nearly $411 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 $7.8 billion in September 2022 (compared to $2.2 billion in September 2021), an increase of 249 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.4 billion in September 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 53 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in September 2022.
  • Passenger Fare Receipts
    • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $2.6 billion in September 2022 (compared to $1.1 billion in September 2021), an increase of 144 percent 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 September 2019. These receipts are expenditures by foreign residents on international flights of U.S. air carriers.
    • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 18 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in September 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.