U.S. Travel & Tourism Statistics 2020-2021

• US domestic travel increased by +2% YTD in 2019 with Americans taking 2.29 Billion domestic trips.

• Domestic leisure travel increased 1.9% in 2019 to 1.9 billion.

• 80% of all US domestic trips were for leisure travel in 2019.

• Domestic business travel in 2019 accounted for 464 million trips.

• US Citizen outbound tourism: Americans take 93.0 Million international outbound trips each year. (+6.3% YTD Change)

• International Inbound Tourism: Annually, there are currently 79.6 Million international visitors to the US. (+3.5% YTD Change)

• Top 5 inbound countries: Mexico (19.1m), Canada (12.3m), UK (4.9), Japan (3.4), China (2.9).

• Top 5 outbound by continent: Europe (17.7m), Caribbean (8.7m), Asia (6.2m), South America (2.1m), Central America (3.2m).

• Top US cities visited: New York (9.8m), Miami (5.38m), LA (4.98m), Orlando (4.47m), San Francisco (3.57m), Vegas (3.33m).

• Each year, 35% of American families plan vacations 50 miles or more from home.

• In a Travel Leaders Group survey, 24% of Americans stated they plan to travel to Europe.

• 22% of American vacations are via road trips.

• USA’s top 5 road trip routes: #1 Las Vegas – National Parks, #2 Northern California - Southern Oregon Coast, #3 Northern New England, #4 Blue Ridge Parkway #5 Black Hills.

The lion’s share of the United States tourism is from its own citizen’s domestic travel, with over 2.29 billion Americans taking trips within the country. This saw a +2% year to date increase, which is enormous considering that domestic travel spend was worth $932.7 Billion.

As you can see from the US outbound travel statistics above, the number of Americans traveling out of the country is remarkably low compared to domestic travel. According to Trade.gov, outbound tourism hit 93 Million last year and saw a sizable +6.3% year to date increase, showing more Americans are willing to take an outbound trip and travel out the country.

The outbound travel expenditure of these 93 million people was worth $156.3 Billion to America’s tourism industry, so 6.3% is a very significant outbound tourism statistic! The hottest US outbound destinations were Europe, Caribbean, Asia, South America, and Central America.

The US inbound tourism statistics also paint a fascinating picture of America’s continued tourism industry growth, with visitors flocking from Mexico, Canada, UK, Japan, and China. International visitors totaled 79.6 Million with a 3.5% year to date increase, with the top US vacation destinations being cities such as New York, Miami, LA, Orlando, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

Sources: Statista, AAA, TravelLeadersGroup, TravelAgentCentral, MMGY

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• American’s spent around $930 billion USD on domestic travel in 2018.

• In 2017 the amount spent on summer vacations was around $101.1 billion USD, up from $89.9 billion in 2016.

• $1.1 Trillion / $1,089 Billion: Yearly U.S. travel and tourism expenditure ($932.7b domestic / $156.3b international).

• U.S. leisure spend totalled $761.7 billion in 2018 from domestic and international travellers.

• U.S. business sped totalled $327 billion in 2018, with $136 Billion from travellers attending conventions or meetings.

• Expenditure Sources: $267.7B on food services, $232.2B on lodging, $200.4B on public transport, $166.5B on auto transportation, $112.6B on recreation, $109.6B on retail.

• Behind nightlife/dining, travel was voted America’s most popular choice for spending disposable income at 36%.

• $101.1 Billion is spent every year in America on summer vacations alone.

• The average American spends $6,080 on international trips.

• Inbound overseas tourists stay an average of 18 nights and spend $4,200 while in America.

• Overseas travellers account for 84% of international tourist spend, despite being half of all international arrivals.

• Canadian tourists are the biggest spenders with £22.2 billion in the U.S. every year.

• New York brings in $16.1 Billion a year from international visitors.

If you’re wondering how much Americans spend on travel each year, it was huge; International and domestic travelers spent $1.1 Trillion US dollars ($1,089 Billion). Americans spending through domestic travel increased by a massive +5.8% year to date, whereas international tourism spends only saw a 0.3% bump from the previous year. To break this down, this sort of spending would support 8.9M jobs, which in turn would generate $171 Billion in tax and $268 Billion in payroll.

Out of the $1.1 Trillion spending, leisure travelers from both international and domestic spent $762 Billion in 2018, which was a +6.1% increase from the previous year. When looking at business travel spend, it had risen +2.4% to $327 Billion, with 41.5% coming from

What are American tourists spending this $1.1 Trillion on? According to the latest US travel spending statistics, food services such as restaurants, bars, and grocery stores were the most popular spending category at 26.7%. This was followed by 23.1% on lodging, 20.0% on public transport, 16.6% on auto transportation, 11.2% on recreation, and 10.9% on retail.

Furthermore, this $1.1 Trillion spending isn’t the only financial impact of the tourists. When you look at the inputs used to supply or produce the goods travelers desire, and take into account the spend of the employees of travel businesses – there is a considerable multiplier of the financial impact to the US economy, estimated to be a total of $2.5 Trillion.

Sources: US Travel, US Travel 2, Phocuswright, TravelAgenctCentral, Squaremouth, Statista

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• The travel industry accounts for 7.1% of America’s private employment.

• 15.7 Million American jobs were supported by travel in 2018.

• 8.92 Million American travel-related jobs were supported by tourism in 2018 (7.73M domestic / 1.19M international)

• $1 Million in travel revenue directly produces eight jobs with the industry.

• 1 in 10 jobs in the U.S. depend on the travel industry (Excluding farming).

• $267.9 Billion in payroll is generated yearly by U.S. travel and tourism ($234.6 Billion domestic / $33.3 Billion international).

• $170.9 Billion in tax revenue is generated yearly by U.S. travel and tourism ($147.3 Billion domestic / $23.6 Billion international).

• A massive $117.4 billion of the $170.9b in tax revenue was spent on leisure travel, $53.5b on business.

• International and domestic business travel generated $327.3 billion in 2018 through direct spending.

• In 2018, U.S. residents recorded 463.6M trips for business (38% being events and meetings).

The tourism industry is vital to the US economy, so much so that it accounts for 7.1% of the countries private employment. Overall, 15.7 Million American jobs were supported by the tourism industry last year, making one in eight non-farm jobs dependent on it in some way, direct and indirectly. The trend is on the up, the 15.7 Million American jobs in the travel industry had a +1.3% increase from the previous year.

Jobs, where workers are supplying goods or services directly to visitors, would be classed as ‘direct’ - this supported 8.9 million U.S. travel-specific jobs. The remaining 6.8 Million jobs were classed as indirect, these would include areas whereby workers created goods or services which helped produce the goods or services (sold or used by the 8.9M direct jobs).

The travel industry is known for being extremely labor intensive, its upwards trends have the power to develop new career opportunities much fast than any other niche. If you exclude the farming industry, one in ten jobs would be dependent on the travel industry – as an example, one in five non-farming industry jobs would be created from $1 million sales, but the same value in the travel industry would create one in eight.

Sources: US Travel 1, US Travel 2