National Travel and Tourism Office | February 22, 2024

International Visitors Spent $19.5 Billion in the United States in December 2023

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in December 2023:

  • International visitors spent $19.5 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of more than 22% compared to December 2022 and the highest level of monthly spending since December 2019 (before the onset of reported COVID-19 cases). In fact, monthly U.S. travel and tourism exports are within $1.4 billion of their highwater mark set back in March 2018 when international visitors spent an appreciable $20.8 billion experiencing the United States.
  • Conversely, Americans spent $18.9 billion traveling abroad during December, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $544 million and the sixth consecutive month during which the United States enjoyed a balance of trade surplus for travel and tourism-related goods and services.
  • International visitors have spent more than $212.2 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through December 2023), an increase of more than 28% when compared 2022; international visitors have injected, on average, more than $581 million a day into the U.S. economy during 2023.
  • U.S. Travel and tourism exports accounted for 22.4% of U.S. services exports during December 2023 and 7.5% 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 $11.3 billion during December 2023 (compared to $8.8 billion in December 2022), an increase of 28% 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% of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2023.
  • Passenger Fare Receipts
    • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.4 billion in December 2023 (compared to $2.7 billion in the previous year), up 24% when compared to December 2022. These receipts represent expenditures by foreign residents on international flights provided by U.S. air carriers.
    • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 17% of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2023.
  • 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 $4.8 billion in December 2023 (compared to $4.4 billion in December 2022), an increase of 11% when compared to the previous year.
    • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 25% of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December 2023.

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