Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in January 2024:
• International visitors spent nearly $19.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within the United States, an increase of more than 23 percent compared to January 2023 and the highest level of monthly spending since December 2019. In fact, monthly U.S. travel and tourism exports are within $1.1 billion of their highwater mark set back in March 2018 when international visitors spent an appreciable $20.8 billion exploring the United States.
• Conversely, Americans spent more than $19.0 billion traveling abroad during January, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $638 million and the seventh consecutive month during which the United States generated a balance of trade surplus for travel and tourism-related goods and services.
• International visitors spent nearly $213.1 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year last year (January through December 2023), an increase of nearly 29 percent when compared to 2022; international visitors injected, on average, nearly $584 million a day into the U.S. economy during 2023.
• U.S. travel and tourism exports accounted for 23 percent of U.S. services exports during January 2024 and 7.7 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 January 2024 (compared to $8.8 billion in January 2023), an increase of 29 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 58 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2024.
• Passenger Fare Receipts
• Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.5 billion in January 2024 (compared to $2.8 billion in the previous year), up 22 percent when compared to January 2023. These receipts represent expenditures by foreign residents on international flights provided by U.S. air carriers.
• Passenger fare receipts accounted for 18 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2024.
• 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 $4.9 billion in January 2024 (compared to $4.4 billion in January 2023), an increase of 12 percent when compared to the previous year.
• Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 25 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in January 2024.
Interested in an interactive data visualization of these statistics? Please visit our Monthly Travel Trade Monitor for a more comprehensive and customizable experience.
