In February this year, citizens of the United States were close to traveling to foreign countries as much as they did before the spread of the Coronavirus, in 2019.
Such conclusions have been reached through the recent data provided by the National Travel and Tourism Office, VisaGuide.World reports.
The same notes that during the second month of this year, nearly 6.2 million US citizens departed for international trips, thus accounting for a total of 97 percent of February 2019 figures and 46 percent above February last year.
In addition, a total of $17.4 billion were spent abroad during February this year, which accounts for a record for the US, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office report.
During the same month, more people traveled outside the United States than in. The US opened its doors to a total of 4.1 million foreign visitors, or up by 83 percent from the same month last year, However, the figures are 81 percent of the level registered in February 2019.
At the same time, international visitor spending was $9.5 billion in February this year. The statistics show that that’s way much lower compared to the US citizens spent.
The United States Travel Association has continuously attributed the US’s high first-time visa wait times for nationals of Brazil, India, and Mexico, as well as several other countries as a significant factor to the travel trade deficit and slow return to inbound visitation before the spread of the COVID-19 and its new strains.
In order to reduce wait times, authorities in the US are continuously working to find effective ways that would help solve this problem. Besides, the State Department has implemented several initiatives in this regard.
According to the National Travel and Tourism Office, the total number of foreign passengers holding a visa for tourism purposes was 1.5 million in February this year, up from 900,000 for the same month in 2022.
The report shows that citizens of the following countries visited the most United States in February this year: the United Kingdom, France, South Korea, France, Germany, and Brazil.
The statistics show that visitors from European countries accounted for the largest number of international visitors, with a total of 1.4 million passengers from European countries traveling to the United States in the second month of this year.
Authorities in the US have recently welcomed a large number of international visitors. The influx of international passengers shows that the tourism sector is marking a significant improvement after being highly affected by COVID-related restrictions.
During the Memorial Day weekend alone nearly 9.8 million passengers were screened or passed through security controls, or 300,000 more compared to the figures for the same period in 2019.
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