Foreign tourists spending on the American soil reached the mark of US$ 167.7 billion in 2017 (from January to August), according to the data disclosed by NTTO, the federal body that publishes studies on Travel and Tourism in the United States.
In August only, the expenditures related to tourism were US$ 21.3 billion.
The exports which, briefly put, are the amount spent by non-American tourists in the US, registered, since April of 2016, a decline in nine consecutive months. Since January, however, the shift has changed and the industry started to have a monthly growth.
The results of August were 5% better than the same month last year. For the whole year, the growth is 3.2%.
The amount left by foreign tourists in the United States is divided between “Travel Expenses” (US$ 13.3 billion) – services and products like food, accommodation, recreation, gifts and entertainment –, “Ticket Expenses” (US$ 3.2 billion) and “Medical/Educational Costs/Temporary Work” (US$ 13.3 billion).
The NTTO also calculates the trade balance as a product of the sums of the foreign expenses spent locally and the expenses of the American citizens in other countries. According to the data, US$ 113.7 billion were spent outside the US. With this, the balance until August is positive at US$ 54 billion.
