International visits to the United States continue to grow

WASHINGTON, DC – The US Department of Commerce today announced that the United States welcomed 16 million international visitors during the first quarter of 2015-183,000 more than in the first quarter of 2014 – a one percent increase in visitors.

March 2015 marked the 15th consecutive month of growth in total US visits since January 2014. 5.9 million International visitors traveled to the United States in March, an increase of 0.2 percent compared to March 2014.

HIGHLIGHTS

Top Inbound International Markets

• The top inbound markets continued to be Canada and Mexico. Overnight volume from Canada totaled 5 million visitors during the first quarter of 2015, a four percent decline compared to the first three months of 2014. At the same time, Mexico recorded 4 million visits to the United States, an increase of six percent. The Japan (-7%), the United Kingdom (-3.4%) and Brazil (+8%) rounded out the top five inbound markets.

• During the first quarter of 2015 half of the top 10 countries posted increases in non-resident visits. Non-resident visitation from two of the top 10 countries registered double-digit increases.

• In March 2015 six of the top 10 countries posted increases in visitation to the United States.
Top 10 Countries

Country of Residence Percent Change YTD March
2015 vs. 2014 Percent Change March
2015 vs. 2014 Rank for March 2015

Canada -4% -6% 1
Mexico 6% 5% 2
Japan -7% -10% 3
United Kingdom -3% 2% 4
Brazil 8% -5% 6
People’s Republic of China (EXCL HK) 19% 19% 7
South Korea 16% 11% 8
Germany 1% 6% 5
France -15% -27% 9
Australia -3% -4% 10

Regional Markets

• Six of the nine(3) major overseas regional markets recorded an increase in non-resident visits to the United States during the first quarter of 2015: Asia (+6%), South America (+5%), Middle East (+15%), the Caribbean (+16%), Central America (+12%) and Africa (+11%)

• Western Europe (-4%), Oceania (-2%) and Eastern Europe (-14%) recorded decreases for the first quarter of 2015.
Non-Resident Visits from Overseas Countries

• Travel from overseas markets accounted for 44 percent of total arrivals to the United States during the first three months of 2015.

• YTD March 2015 non-resident visits from overseas countries (7.1 million) were up three percent over the same period 2014.

• March 2015 overseas resident visits (2.5 million) were up three percent compared to March 2014.

Top Ports: YTD March 2015

• YTD March 2015 visitation through the top 15 ports of entry accounted for 86 percent of all overseas visits-a percentage point less than last year.

• The top three ports (Miami, New York (JFK) and Los Angeles) accounted for 42 percent of all overseas arrivals-about the same as last year.

• Eleven of the top 15 ports recorded increases in arrivals in the first three months of 2015. Six of these ports recorded double-digit increases.

Pleasure Travel vs. Business Travel

• During the first quarter of 2015 of the top 20 overseas countries with visits to the United States, more than 90 percent of the visits recorded from Brazil (91%), Argentina (93%) and Ecuador (91%) represented pleasure travel to the United States. On the contrary, 25 percent or more of the visits recorded from Germany (26%), Italy (25%), India (29%) and the Netherlands (33%) represented business travel to the United States.

• During the first three months of 2015 for all overseas non-resident visits to the United States, 77.3 percent represented pleasure travel and 16.2 percent represented business travel.