NTTO: U.S. Travel and Tourism Exports in May 2026

Data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in May 2026:

• International visitors spent more than $20.9 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of May, an increase of 1 percent when compared to May 2025.
  
  
• Americans spent more than $19.2 billion traveling abroad during May (down nearly 1% compared to last year), yielding a $1.7 billion balance of trade surplus (exports minus imports) for the month.
  
  
• International visitors have spent more than $103.4 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services during 2026, down nearly 1 percent when compared to the same period (January - May) last year; international visitors injected, on average, $685 million a day into the U.S. economy in 2026.

Composition of Monthly Spending (Travel Exports)

• Travel Spending 
  
  • Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled nearly $11.4 billion during May 2026 (compared to $11.5 billion in May 2025), down 1 percent when compared to the previous year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.
  • Travel receipts accounted for 54 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in May 2026.
• Passenger Fare Receipts
  • Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.2 billion in May 2026, an increase of nearly 14 percent when compared to May 2025. These receipts represent expenditures by foreign residents on international flights provided by U.S. air carriers.
  • Passenger fare receipts accounted for 15 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during May.
• Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker Spending
  • Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers in the United States totaled $6.3 billion in May, a slight increase (0.5%) when compared to the previous year.
  • Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker expenditures accounted for 30 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in May 2026.

Interested in an interactive data visualization of these statistics? Please visit our Monthly Travel Trade Monitor for a more comprehensive and customizable experience.