Tourism direct GVA (2023) | Tourism direct employment (2023) | Travel exports (2025) |
|---|---|---|
3.0% of total GVA (unchanged from 2022) | 4.0% of total employment (up 0.3 percentage points from 2022) | 20.3% of total service exports (down 1.5 percentage points since 2024) |
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026
National tourism strategy: U.S. National Travel and Tourism Strategy
Responsible government agency: National Travel and Tourism Office, U.S. Department of Commerce
National tourism administration: USD 7 million (excluding promotion) (2025)
Key tourism policy priorities and actions:
Leveraging large-scale events for tourism growth – Assessing the economic impact of large- scale events like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games and their ability to benefit communities and businesses across the country from increased tourism spending.
Measuring the economic impact of travel and tourism – Releasing new data products and modernising existing products to better showcase the economic impact of travel and tourism.
Reducing barriers to trade in travel services – Ensuring a safer and more efficient travel experience to and within the United States while leveraging technological advancements to ensure accessible travel for all.
The travel and tourism sector is an important driver of economic growth and employment in the United States. In 2023, the sector generated USD 840 billion in GVA and directly employed 6.5 million people, accounting for 4.0% of the total workforce. This exceeded the previous peak in 2019, with high of 6.4 million jobs. Travel exports in 2025 accounted for USD 250 billion, representing 20.3% of total service exports.
In 2025, the United States recorded 68.3 million international tourist arrivals, down 5.5% from 2024, and still at 86% of 2019 levels. The top five source markets were Mexico (26%), Canada (24%), United Kingdom (6%), India and Japan (each at 3%).
Domestic tourism is key to tourism in the United States. Domestic travellers took an estimated 2.4 billion person-trips in 2025, up 1.9% compared to 2024.
Travel and tourism in the United States is highly decentralised. Public authorities manage tourism at the national, state, regional and local levels. These include the Federal Government, state governments, and destination marketing organisations.
The U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board consists of up to 32 private-sector tourism representatives from businesses and organisations appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to provide policy input on key sector issues. The Tourism Policy Council is an inter-agency council established by law to ensure the nation’s travel and tourism interests are considered in federal decision making, co-ordinating national policies and programmes that have a significant effect on international travel and tourism and outdoor recreation. The Tourism Policy Council reviews and considers the Advisory Board recommendations and provides additional insight from the public sector perspective on issues affecting travel and tourism nationally.
The National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO), within the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, serves as the central point of contact within the federal government. NTTO is the source of official tourism statistics to inform public policy and private sector decision making. NTTO is also the official government liaison to the Corporation for Travel Promotion, operating as Brand USA, a non-profit corporation that promotes travel to the United States. Brand USA’s Board of Directors is appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.
NTTO is allocated resources from a congressional appropriation to the Department of Commerce and sells research reports and data to generate additional operating revenues. NTTO’s operational budget for 2025 was approximately USD 7 million. NTTO also certifies matching funds of up to USD 20 million from the Travel Promotion Fund for use by Brand USA, which is supported by a portion of the fees charged for the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation, paid by international travellers coming from countries participating in the visa waiver programme.
Source: OECD, adapted from the United States Department of Commerce, 2026.
The National Travel and Tourism Strategy is the primary framework guiding tourism development in the United States. The Strategy outlines a co-ordinated public-private approach to strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. travel and tourism sector and to advance economic growth across the United States. The implementation of the Strategy is led by the National Travel and Tourism Office through the Tourism Policy Council.
A key priority of the Strategy is to facilitate travel to and within the United States to support a stronger, safer, and more prosperous country, and to increase efficiency for visitors to enter and travel within the country. By leveraging advanced technologies and mobile applications, the United States is working to transform inspections at airports into a seamless, touchless process, enabling faster risk identification and efficient processing of legitimate visitors. Customs and Border Protection continues to roll out airport modernisation enhancements to support the expected increase in international travel for upcoming major events like the FIFA World Cup and Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics. Enhanced technology ensures better allocation of resources, allowing officers to focus on higher-risk travellers, which aligns with Customs and Border Protection’s national security mission.
Upcoming large scale international events provide an opportunity to promote the United States as a travel destination and disperse travellers across the country (see box below). Assessing the economic impact of the games will help destinations understand the cost-benefit ratio of hosting the FIFA World Cup and other major sporting events, and support destinations to plan for future international events. A new framework set up by the Administration, the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, is dedicated to leading and co-ordinating Federal efforts in support of the World Cup. In collaboration with executive departments and agencies, the Task Force facilitates comprehensive planning, organisation, and execution of the event through interagency co-operation, information sharing, and strategic support.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 is hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with a majority of the matches hosted in the United States’ 11 host cities. FIFA estimates that the event could generate up to USD 6.4 billion in tourism spending across the United States. It is expected to significantly boost local businesses, infrastructure development, and job creation across the country.
The U.S. Government, in co-ordination with Brand USA, is working to leverage its hosting of the FIFA World Cup to position itself in 2026 as the premier destination for global sporting events and to encourage visitation to the host cities and beyond. Visitors are expected to attend games, base camp locations and fan events across the country – increasing the overall economic impact. Existing country-specific travel competitiveness data can be utilised to recommend targeted marketing strategies to host cities and destination marketing organisations with the goal of increasing average attendance and travel revenue during the duration of the FIFA World Cup.
The United States aims to measure the economic impact of the FIFA World Cup 2026 – specifically from international visitors but also from all travellers – leveraging existing data sources like the Survey of International Air Travelers to measure international visitation, economic impact, and traveller characteristics. This information can help destinations quantify the cost-benefit ratio of hosting the FIFA World Cup and other major sporting events and support destinations in planning for future international events.
The United States is committed to measuring the economic impact of travel and tourism by releasing new data products and modernising existing products to better showcase the economic impact of travel and tourism. Beginning in 2026, the United States will release new state economic impact reports highlighting the contribution of travel and tourism to GDP and jobs in states across the country. The United States will also modernise the Survey of International Air Travelers by exploring opportunities for digital survey collection in place of traditional paper surveys.