The American travel economy struck a familiar chord in August 2025: resilient on the export front, enthusiastic about outbound travel, and once again running a stubborn trade deficit, as U.S. travellers spent more overseas than foreign visitors contributed to the domestic economy.
Fresh figures released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) confirm that international visitors spent nearly US$21.1 billion on travel and tourism-related activities within the United States during August, unchanged from August 2024, reflecting steady but unspectacular inbound momentum.
At the same time, Americans spent more than US$21.8 billion travelling abroad, producing a travel and tourism trade deficit of US$726 million for the month. In the choreography of global tourism flows, the United States remains both a favoured destination and an enthusiastic exporter of travellers, though not yet in perfect balance.
On a year-to-date basis, international visitors have now spent nearly US$168.5 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services in 2025, representing a 1 per cent increase compared with the same period last year. That equates to an average economic injection of almost US$693 million every single day into the American economy, a reminder of tourism’s enduring status as one of the country’s quiet commercial powerhouses.
In trade terms, travel and tourism exports accounted for 21 per cent of all U.S. services exports in August and 8 per cent of total U.S. exports, goods and services combined. Few industries outside energy and defence consistently command that level of global market share.
What Tourists Are Spending – And Where the Money Goes
The composition of August’s export earnings reveals a familiar but finely balanced spending profile:
Direct travel spending by international visitors totalled US$11.7 billion, down slightly from US$11.9 billion a year earlier — a 1 per cent year-on-year decline. This category includes spending on accommodation, food, entertainment, gifts, local transport and recreation, and it remains the backbone of the tourism export economy, accounting for 56 per cent of total U.S. travel exports in August.
Passenger fare receipts delivered a rare bright spot, climbing 9 per cent to US$3.3 billion, up from nearly US$3.0 billion in August 2024. These revenues reflect what foreign travellers paid to fly on U.S. air carriers on international routes, and they accounted for 16 per cent of total tourism exports. In an industry still absorbing post-pandemic capacity shifts and fuel cost pressures, the rebound in fare receipts offers airlines a rare pocket of oxygen.
Meanwhile, medical tourism, education-related travel and short-term worker spending totalled US$6.0 billion, down 2 per cent year-on-year. Despite the contraction, this segment still accounts for a substantial 29 per cent share of total tourism exports, underscoring the deep financial importance of foreign students, visiting workers, and health travellers to the broader U.S. services economy.
An Economy Still Fed by Footsteps
Taken as a whole, the August data paint a picture of structural stability rather than explosive growth. International travel to the United States continues to generate vast daily inflows of cash. At the same time, outbound American tourism remains exuberant — driven by pent-up demand, strong consumer confidence and a still-robust U.S. dollar.
Yet the persistent travel trade deficit also reinforces a broader reality: Americans are travelling outward just as enthusiastically as the world is travelling in. From European capitals to Asia-Pacific beach resorts, U.S. travellers are exporting spending at a pace that domestic tourism inflows are struggling to match month-for-month.
For policymakers and industry leaders, the message is nuanced rather than alarming. The United States continues to enjoy one of the largest and most diversified tourism export bases in the world, with aviation, education and leisure all playing distinct commercial roles. What the August figures quietly confirm is that the post-pandemic tourism economy has now settled into a mature, competitive phase, rather than a rebound boom.
As airlines bank higher international fares, universities rely on overseas enrolments, and destination cities court global visitors dollar by dollar, tourism’s role as a trade stabiliser remains firmly intact, even if the ledger still leans modestly into deficit.
For official data and detailed breakdowns, see the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) at travel.trade.gov.
by Jason Smith – (c) 2025
Read Time: 4 minutes.
About the Writer
Jason Smith has the kind of story you can’t fake, built on long flights, new cities, and that unmistakable hum of hotel life that gets under your skin and never quite leaves. Half American, half Asian, he grew up surrounded by the steady rhythm of the tourism trade in the U.S., where his family helped others see the world long before he did.
Eager to carve out his own path, Jason packed his bags for Bangkok and the Asian Institute of Hospitality & Management, where he majored in Hotel Management and found a career and a calling. From there came years on the road, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, each stop adding another thread to his craft.
He made his mark in Thailand, eventually becoming Director of Sales for one of the country’s leading hotel chains. Then came COVID-19: borders closed, flights grounded, and a new chapter began.
Back home in America, Jason turned his knack for connection into words, joining Global Travel Media to tell the stories behind the check-ins written with the same warmth and honesty that have always defined him.
