International Visitors Spent $16.5 Billion in December 2022

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in December2022:

• International visitors spent nearly $16.5 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of nearly 49 percent compared to December 2021 and the single highest month for U.S. tourism-related exports since February 2020—the onset of the global pandemic.
• Americans spent more than $15.5 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $932 million for the month.
• A summation of the twelve months in 2022 (preliminary data, subject to future revisions) suggests that international visitors spent nearly $162.6 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services, nearly doubling (up 96%) the amount spent in 2021. International visitors injected, on average, more than $445 million a day into the U.S. economy in 2022.

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 $9.1 billion in December 2022 (compared to $5.4 billion in December 2021), an increase of 68 percent when compared to the previous year.
  • For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.8 billion in December 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 55 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2022.
• Passenger Fare Receipts
  • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.2 billion in December 2022 (compared to $2.0 billion in December 2021), an increase of 62 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 December 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 December 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 December 2022 (compared to $3.7 billion in December 2021), an increase of 14 percent when compared to the previous year.
  • For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled more than $4.8 billion in December 2019.
  • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 25 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2022.

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