US International Visitor Spending Trending Up

Image: American flag waves in front of New York City skyline. (Photo Credit: Volodymyr/Adobe)
Image: American flag waves in front of New York City skyline. (Photo Credit: Volodymyr/Adobe)
Lacey Pfalz
by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 12:20 PM ET, Thu August 6, 2026

International visitor spending increased in June, 2026, spurred on by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO).

A good sign after over a year and a half of declines, the data found that international travelers spent over $21 billion on travel and tourism-related activities within the United States in June, a 2.3% increase from June, 2025. 

While international visitor spending increased for the first time in a while, Americans also spent less while traveling abroad for the first time in a while, dropping 1% from 2025 to $18.9 billion. This created a $2.1 billion trade surplus for June. 

Yet while June shows more positive numbers, the total for the first half of the year is still down: international visitor spending for 2026 through June was $124.1 billion, a decrease of 0.7% from 2025 (a year which also experienced decreases). 

U.S. air carriers also generated $2.8 billion in June from international visitors alone, representing 13% of all U.S. travel and tourism exports in June.


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Lacey Pfalz

Lacey Pfalz

Senior Editor, News & Features

Lacey Pfalz is Associate Editor at TravelPulse. She's a passionate advocate of responsible travel and believes the best travel experiences happen outside of a planned itinerary. Lacey currently lives in rural Wisconsin. She can be reached at [email protected].

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