(Washington) Tourism to and from the United States gradually recovered in 2022 without returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to data released Tuesday by the Department of Commerce.
Year-to-date, more than 50.8 million people visited the United States, up 128% from 2021, when tourism was still largely impacted by travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total, however, is just under two-thirds of the number of visitors to the United States in 2019, the last year before the pandemic hit.
The level of visitors is nevertheless gradually approaching its 2019 levels, since the number of entries in December 2022 represents almost three quarters of the level observed in December 2019.
On the other hand, Americans traveled more widely abroad, with just over 80 million departures for short stays over the past year as a whole, i.e. more than 80% of the level observed in 2019, and a increase of more than 65% year-on-year.
In December, the level of departures almost returned to its pre-pandemic levels, since the 8.3 million departures from the territory represent nearly 94% of the number of Americans who went on vacation in December 2019.
Americans have indeed benefited greatly from the savings they accumulated during the pandemic and which continue to support the American economy despite the Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hike in order to bring down inflation, still at 6%. over a year in February.
In detail, the countries bordering the United States, Mexico and Canada, are the main suppliers and recipients of short stays.
On the visitor side, in addition to the other two North American countries, the United Kingdom, Brazil and France are the main countries of origin of tourists traveling to the United States.
Tourism from Western Europe is also the one that has seen the strongest increase, with an increase of almost five times more entries than in 2021, as travel restrictions are relaxed.
American tourists have largely favored the countries of North America and the Caribbean to go on vacation (more than 50% of trips), ahead of Western Europe (20%), to which American tourism has tripled in one year.
