United States records rise in visits by foreigners

International arrivals to the U.S. increased two per cent in January 2017 compared with January 2016, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced this week.

The 5.6 million international visitors who arrived this past January represented the first monthly increase in inbound international visits to the U.S. since June 2016, the agency said.

The statistics could show an important reversal of the downward trend observed in late 2016.

The top five inbound markets for January 2017 were Mexico, Canada, China, Japan and the United Kingdom, though visits from Japan and the U.K. were down compared with January 2016. Visitors from China showed the biggest jump, a 17 per cent increase, and visitors from South Korea, the sixth largest inbound market, were up 12 per cent compared with January 2016.

Miami, Los Angeles and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport accounted for nearly 40 per cent of all overseas arrivals. Just over 16 per cent of overseas travellers to the U.S. arrived on business as opposed to leisure trips.

The Department of Commerce also issued its final report on the 2016 calendar year last week, counting a total of 75.6 million international visitors to the U.S. last year. That 2016 figure represented a decrease of two per cent compared with the 77.5 million non-resident international travellers who arrived in 2015. Those visitors collectively spent $244.7 billion US in the States in 2016, a one per cent decrease in spending from 2015.

That drop last year in international tourism has mostly been blamed on the strong U.S. dollar, which makes it more expensive for foreigners to visit the U.S.