The travel and tourism sector is a critical driver of economic growth and employment in the United States. In 2022, the sector generated USD 764 billion in GVA (value added) and directly employed 6.6 million people. This means tourism directly accounted for 3.0% of national GVA and 4.2% of the total workforce. This period was still impeded by the impacts of COVID-19, so remains below the 2019 high of 7.3 million jobs. The recovery in international tourism has continued, and in 2023 travel exports of USD 213 billion represented 21.3% of total service exports, down from 26.8% in 2019, but a significant increase compared to the pandemic low of 10.5% in 2021.
Recovery from the pandemic has been uneven across the United States, with some destinations taking much longer to recover, while others have already surpassed 2019 levels: overseas visitation to 8 states and one U.S. territory surpassed 2019 visitation in 2023, while visitation remained under 60% of 2019 levels of visitation in 5 states and 2 U.S. territories. In 2023, the United States recorded 66.5 million international tourist arrivals, up 246% from the pandemic low of 19.2 million in 2020, but still at 84% of 2019 levels. The top five source markets were Canada (31%), Mexico (22%), United Kingdom (6%), and Germany and India each at 3%.
Domestic tourism is key to tourism in the United States. Domestic travellers took an estimated 2.3 billion person-trips and spent USD 943 billion in nominal terms in 2023, down from USD 992 billion in 2019, according to the US Travel Association Winter 2024 Forecast.
The United States’ National Travel and Tourism Office forecast expects total international visitation to reach 77.7 million in 2024, 85.2 million in 2025 (surpassing the 79.4 million of 2019), and 91.1 million in 2026, before reaching 96.8 million in 2028.