The U.S. resident outbound market totaled a record 74.0 million in 2015, up nine percent from 2014. This is the fourth straight year of increases in U.S. travel abroad, with particularly strong growth in the last two years in the outbound market. The last time U.S. outbound travel saw an increase near 10% was 2004.
Travel to overseas countries (32.8. million) increased seven percent; also setting a record (overseas includes all countries except Canada & Mexico). The top two destinations for U.S. international travelers were Mexico and Canada. Travel to Mexico (28.7 million), more than twice the size of the next largest outbound market, was up 11 percent, marking another new record for the third straight year. Mexico now holds a 38.8% market share of all U.S. outbound travel. U.S. travel to Canada (12.5 million) was up eight percent. Combined, Canada and Mexico's market share of the 74 million visits was 55.7%. This is the highest share of total by the top two destinations since 2004.
The top five destination countries visited by U.S. residents in 2015 were: Mexico (28.7 million) and Canada (12.5 million), followed by the overseas countries of the United Kingdom (2.9 million), Dominican Republic (2.8 million) and France (2.4 million). Nine of the top 10 destinations visited by U.S. travelers posted increases in 2015. Among the top 10 destinations for U.S. travelers, the countries posting the fastest growth over the previous year were Spain (12%), Mexico (11%), and France (11%). Source: National Travel and Tourism Office, U.S. Department of Commerce
