Skift Take

This one chart explains why the U.S. tourism industry is so concentrated on catering to travelers from Brazil, China, and India: They are the fastest growing demographics among the top spending tourists.

Tourists from around the world spent more money in the United States than any other country in 2013.

This, according to data released this week by the National Travel and Tourism Office that outlines which nationalities contributed the most to the U.S. economy in tourism spend.

The United States has the largest share of world traveler spend, 11.9 percent, with a total $180.7 billion coming in from overseas visitors. It has the second largest share of world travelers, 6.4 percent, after France.

Of the ten highest spending nationalities, Canadian travelers contributed the most, $27 billion, which is not surprising given that they visit the U.S. in higher numbers than any other country.

After that, the number of annual tourists to the U.S. does not mandate where a country ranks in spending.

For example, Mexico is the second largest origin country but visitors from Japan, the UK and Brazil all spend more than Mexican travelers.

A rough estimate shows that, of the top ten spending nationalities, visitors from Mexico spend the least at an average of $732 per person. Visitors from India spend the most at an average $6,512 per person.

Below is a chart outlining how much visitors from each country spent in the United States on 2013.

Country of Residence 2013 Spending to/within U.S. 2013 Visit to the U.S. (millions) Spend Per Visitor
Canada $27.0 billion 23.39 $1,154
Japan $18.0 billion 3.73 $4,826
United Kingdom $13.7 billion 3.84 $3,568
Mexico $10.5 billion 14.34 $732
Brazil $10.5 billion 2.06 $5,097
People’s Republic of China $9.8 billion 1.81 $5,414
Germany $7.5 billion 1.92 $3,906
Australia $6.1 billion 1.21 $5,041
France $5.9 billion 1.5 $3,933
India $5.6 billion 0.86 $6,512
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Tags: skiftstats, usa

Photo credit: Tourists and locals walk in front of the Hollister storefront on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Milo Baumgartner / Flickr

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