August international air arrivals to US up 5.2% to 91.6% of 2019 level
Newly released data from the US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) show that in August there were 5.750 million non-citizen air arrivals to the US, up 5.2% vs. August 2023 to 91.6% of the pre-pandemic August 2019 figure.
Overseas visitor air arrivals (international minus Canada and Mexico) totaled 3.595 million in August, which was 88.5% of 2019 level.
US citizen departures to foreign countries totaled 6.309 million in August - up 9.4% vs. August 2023 and up 18.7% vs August 2019.
Also in August, although arrivals to the US from South and Central America and the Caribbean were up 13.5% vs. 2019, arrivals of European citizens to the US were down 12.6%, and arrivals of Asian citizens were down 34.7%.
Top US ports for international traffic (inbound and outbound) were:
- New York JFK 3.768M
- Los Angeles LAX 2.250M
- Miami MIA 2.168M
- Newark EWR 1.562M
- San Francisco SFO 1.526M
Top foreign ports serving US destinations were:
- London Heathrow LHR 1.758M
- Toronto YYZ 1.171M
- Paris CDG 914K
- Cancun CUN 904K
- Frankfurt FRA 776K
Comment: Recovery of US inbound travel from Asia continues to lag as Asians do their leisure traveling in Asia. Travel industry execs blame US passport/visa hassles, US-China trade conflicts and reports of US crime and violence appearing in Asian media. I don't foresee any dramatic recovery in inbound from Asia happening in 4Q2024. Let's try to get a meaningful head start on 2025 before it's too late.
