NTTO | September 09, 2022

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

  • International visitors spent more than $13.9 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States, an increase of more than 101 percent compared to July 2021.
  • Americans spent $13.1 billion traveling abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $775 million for the month—reversing two consecutive months of balance of trade deficits for U.S. travel and tourism.
  • Year to date (January through July 2022), international visitors have spent nearly $83.4 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services (up nearly 106% when compared to the same period last year), injecting, on average, more than $395 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 $7.4 billion in July 2022 (compared to $2.3 billion in July 2021), an increase of 217 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, travel receipts totaled $11.4 billion in July 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 July 2022.
  • Passenger Fare Receipts
    • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $2.3 billion in July 2022 (compared to $1.1 billion in July 2021), an increase of 118 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, the United States exported more than $3.2 billion in passenger air transportation services in July 2019. These receipts are expenditures by foreign residents on international flights of U.S. air carriers.
    • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in July 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 July 2022 (compared to $3.5 billion in July 2021), an increase of 19 percent when compared to the previous year.
    • For a pre-pandemic perspective, this spending totaled $4.8 billion in July 2019.
    • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 30 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in July 2022.

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