The U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office announced that international visitors spent more than $21.2 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States in December, an increase of nearly three percent ($564 million) when compared to December 2015 - setting a new record for monthly U.S. travel and tourism exports. The total amount for the year 2016 is another record for the country.
International visitors spent a record-setting $247.1 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services in 2016, an ever-so-slight increase (0.4%) when compared to record levels of spending in 2015; conversely, Americans have spent an estimated $158.9 billion abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of more than $88.2 billion for the year.
Travel Receipts: Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $13.1 billion during December, an increase of nearly 1 percent when compared to December 2015. 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 62 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December.
Passenger Fare Receipts: Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.5 billion for the month, an increase of nearly 2 percent when compared to December 2015. Passenger fare receipts accounted for 16 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December.
Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker: Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers, totaled nearly $4.6 billion in December, an appreciable increase of 10 percent when compared to the same period in the previous year. Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker receipts accounted for 22 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in December.
