For an industry that spent years clawing its way back from the edge, the latest US international travel figures read less like a crisis and more like a recalibration, a mid-flight correction rather than a hard landing.
Fresh data from the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) shows international air passenger movements to and from the United States easing slightly in November 2025, even as outbound travel by Americans continues to surge well beyond pre-pandemic levels.
The headline number is modest but telling: total international air passenger enplanements reached 19.9 million in November, down 0.2 per cent year-on-year. Yet that figure still sits at 107.1 per cent of November 2019 levels, a reminder that global aviation demand has not merely recovered but, in some segments, has overshot its pre-COVID cruising altitude.
In short, the planes are full. They’re just not always full of the same passengers.
Inbound softens as outbound roars ahead.
The most pronounced shift is on the inbound side. Non-US citizen arrivals fell 5.2 per cent year-on-year to 4.2 million passengers in November, reaching only 87.4 per cent of pre-pandemic volume. Overseas visitor arrivals, a more precise measure of tourism demand, dropped 3.5 per cent to 2.5 million, continuing a gradual slide seen since October.
Year-to-date, overseas visitation is down 2.6 per cent compared with last year, a sobering figure for destinations, retailers and hospitality operators that rely heavily on international spending.
Outbound travel, however, tells a very different story.
US citizens took 5.3 million international trips in November, up 1.3 per cent on last year and a staggering 26.5 per cent above 2019 levels. Americans, it seems, have rediscovered their passports and they’re using them with enthusiasm.
For airlines, cruise lines and foreign tourism boards, this outbound appetite has become one of the defining travel trends of the post-pandemic era: resilient, well-funded and seemingly immune to higher airfares or geopolitical noise.
Regional winners and laggards
Regionally, the numbers paint a nuanced picture of shifting global demand.
Europe emerged as a rare bright spot, with 5.1 million passengers travelling between the US and the continent in November, up 1.1 per cent year-on-year and fractionally above 2019 levels. It is a notable milestone, suggesting transatlantic travel has finally regained its footing after years of capacity constraints and uneven recovery.
Asia, meanwhile, continues to rebuild. Passenger volumes rose 7.7 per cent year-on-year to 2.7 million, but remain 10.7 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, reflecting lingering capacity limits, visa friction and a slower aviation recovery across parts of the region.
Closer to home, South and Central America and the Caribbean recorded 4.9 million passengers, down slightly year-on-year but nearly 19 per cent above 2019 levels, underscoring the enduring appeal of short-haul leisure markets for American travellers.
At the country level, Mexico once again topped the chart with 3.3 million passengers, followed by Canada (2.2 million), the United Kingdom (1.4 million), Japan (926,000) and the Dominican Republic (801,000). Japan’s double-digit growth stood out, reinforcing its status as one of Asia’s fastest-recovering inbound and outbound markets.
Gateway cities keep the traffic flowing.
Unsurprisingly, America’s largest international gateways continued to shoulder the bulk of the traffic. New York’s JFK led all US airports with 2.5 million international passengers, followed by Miami, Los Angeles, Newark and San Francisco, a familiar roll call of long-haul heavyweights.
On the foreign side, London Heathrow retained its crown as the busiest international airport serving the US, ahead of Toronto, Cancun, Mexico City and Seoul Incheon. The mix reflects both business travel resilience and the enduring gravitational pull of leisure routes.
September tells the deeper story.
Looking back to September 2025 provides further context and a clearer sense of the structural shifts at play.
International visitor arrivals to the US fell sharply that month, down 11 per cent year-on-year to 5.48 million. While Mexico and Canada remained dominant source markets, overseas arrivals also softened, particularly among discretionary leisure travellers.
By contrast, outbound US departures climbed to 8.55 million, exceeding September 2019 levels by more than 12 per cent. Europe captured nearly 30 per cent of those trips, with outbound visitation to the continent up 4.8 per cent year-on-year.
Put simply: Americans are travelling more and spending more abroad, even as inbound demand lags.
The spending gap widens
That imbalance is now showing up in the trade ledger.
International visitors spent $19.9 billion in the US during September, down 5.5 per cent from a year earlier. Americans, meanwhile, spent $21.6 billion overseas, producing a record monthly travel and tourism trade deficit of $1.7 billion.
Year-to-date, international visitors have injected an impressive $188.1 billion into the US economy, roughly $689 million a day, but the growth rate has slowed to just 0.5 per cent.
Travel exports continue to play an outsized role in the broader economy, accounting for 20 per cent of US services exports in September and 7 per cent of total exports overall. Yet the composition of that spending is shifting.
Travel receipts fell 6 per cent year-on-year, passenger fare receipts dropped 7 per cent, and education, medical and short-term worker spending declined 4 per cent, a trifecta that points to softer demand across multiple visitor segments.
A recalibration, not a retreat
None of this suggests a collapse in global travel. Far from it. The data points instead to a market in transition, one shaped by currency movements, geopolitical caution, visa complexity and the simple reality that recovery is rarely symmetrical.
For the US travel sector, the challenge now is clear: converting pent-up interest into actual arrivals, while competing aggressively for global travellers who have more choice and more confidence than they did even five years ago.
For airlines and foreign destinations, however, the message is more encouraging. The American traveller is back, cashed up and ready to roam. And in a world still finding its post-pandemic balance, that remains one of tourism’s most powerful tailwinds.
by Jason Smith – (c) 2026.
Read Time: 6 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.
