Throw a stone in Manhattan and chances are it will hit a New Yorker preparing for a European vacation. More Americans, especially wealthier ones, are packing their bags and heading to Europe, be it for a sojourn in Italy or an ancestor-hunting trip to Ireland, than vice versa. The phenomenon has created the biggest tourism-related trade gap in more than two decades.
It shows the present strength of the U.S. economy, and also a long-term vulnerability.
To economists, when U.S. citizens go abroad and spend money, it counts as an import.
When a visitor from Texas shells out for a room at the Ritz Paris and splurges on a meal at La Coupole, it’s treated conceptually, for the purposes of totting up trade flows, as if they brought those luxuries home with them. Conversely, a British group taking in a Broadway show or visiting the observation deck of the Empire State building counts as an export on the U.S.
side of the ledger. For decades, the U.S.
-European travel trade balance hasn’t swung much in either direction. In 1999, the United States had a surplus of $1.4 billion, meaning that Europeans forked out more when visiting the countrythan the reverse.
Last year, however, brought a $27.3 billion deficit, the largest recorded in the 2000s and 66% more than the deficit in 2022, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Economic Analysis. That fits with other high-water marks: The Transportation Security Administration screened more than 3 million people at airports across the U.S.
on July .