International Visitor Spending in U.S. Dropped for Second Consecutive Year
Photo Credit: International travelers spent less in the U.S. in 2017 than they did in 2016, the second straight year of spending declines. Pictured are travelers outside Macy's Herald Square in New York City. Flickr / drpavloff
Skift Take
While each visitor market is unique, many international travelers in the U.S. last year probably weren't shopping until they dropped because of a stronger U.S. dollar.
Many international travelers who visited the United States were probably feeling sticker shock during their trips as new data show spending was down more than 3 percent last year, the second straight year of a spending slump.
[Update: International arrivals to the U.S. were also down 3.6 percent through August 2017, the most recent month for which data is available, which contributed to the spending decline.]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that international visitors spent $149 billion in the U.S. last year, down from $154 billion in 2016, and that international visitor spending dropped 5.8 percent from 2015 to 2017. Data show spend was down from January to October but began to rise in November and December ($12.4 and $12.5 billion, respectively). But spending was down year-over-year for each month of 2017.
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