International Visitors to the U.S. Projected to Surge in Next Five Years

After two years of fairly slow growth regarding international visitors to the United States, possibly for reasons such as political tensions or personal security concerns, recently released reports show this number once again increased in 2018 and will most likely continue to increase through 2023.

The U.S. Department of Commerce projected 78 million international visitors would travel to the States in 2018, but the actual number exceeded expectations at 81 million arrivals, per airport records. In 2023, the Department predicts the annual number of visitors from around the globe to grow to 95 million. Forecasters anticipate a steady increase of visitors by 6 percent each year.

The majority of arrivals from overseas come from China, Colombia and India, with forecasted growth of 30 percent, 35 percent and 46 percent, respectively, during the five-year window.

These data recently became available again after a temporary technological glitch at arrivals terminals across the country back in the spring of 2018, which made it difficult to collect information on international arrivals. By fall, however, the commerce department fixed the issue and scoured through data from the past two years. Forecasters base their numbers on past data as well as trends in the economy, society and input from overseas travel markets.