International tourists to the United States spent nearly $16.9 billion in February, showing an increase of 64 per cent in spending compared to the same time in 2022.
According to data from the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), international spending in February marked the twenty-third consecutive month of year-over-year records. On the other hand, Americans spent a record-setting $17.4 billion traveling abroad, recording a balance of trade deficit of more than $480 million in February alone, VisaGuide.World reports.
The United States never recorded a monthly trade deficit for travel and tourism before July 2021, while the US has run a total travel and tourism-related trade deficit, indicating imports exceeding exports for ten of the last twenty months, indicating around 50 percent of the time.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reveals that international visitors spent nearly $3.3 billion on US travel and tourism-related goods and services year from to January-February 2023, recording an increase of more than 67.4 per cent. International visitors have added nearly $547 million a day to the American economy.
Furthermore, travel spending of international visitors in the United States reached $9.5 billion in February, up from $4.8 billion recorded in the corresponding time in the previous year. Travel spending is up by 97 per cent in 2023, with such spending including food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, and local transportation in the country. As per travel receipts, those accounted for 56 percent of the total travel and tourism exports of the US in February 2023.
Passenger fares received by American airlines from international visitors reached $3.1 billion in February 2023, compared to $1.6 billion last year, increasing by 100.1 percent. These receipts show expenditures by international tourists, with passenger fare receipts representing 18 percent of the total spent in the US.
Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, as well as expenditures by seasonal, border and other short-term workers, reached a total of $4.3 billion, up from $3.9 billion recorded in February 2022. This is an increase of nine percent recorded in the 12-month period.
Moreover, medical tourism, education and short-term worker expenditures represented 25 percent of the total US travel and tourism exports in 2023.
In general, the travel and tourism industry generated nearly $900 billion in the country’s GDP in 2021. Some of the most visited destinations in the US include states like Florida, New York, Georgia, Hawaii, and California, with the latter having 50 per cent of its area designated for nature conservation.
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