International visitor arrivals to the United States totaled 6,048,545 in December 2025, a decrease of 6.2 percent compared to December 2024, according to new data released by the National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO). At the same time, outbound travel by U.S. citizens reached 10,205,347 departures, an increase of 3.6 percent year over year.
The figures highlight a shift in travel patterns, with fewer international visitors arriving in the United States while more Americans travel abroad. Overall international arrivals in December represented 88 percent of the pre-pandemic visitor levels recorded in December 2019.
Total non-U.S. resident international visitor volume to the United States reached 6,048,545 in December. Overseas visitor volume alone totaled 3,208,088, marking a smaller decline of 1.3 percent compared with December 2024.
Top international visitor markets to the United States in December 2025:
- Mexico: 1,639,874 visitors
- Canada: 1,200,583 visitors
- United Kingdom: 319,162 visitors
- Brazil: 227,273 visitors
- Japan: 180,627 visitors
Together, these five countries accounted for 59 percent of all international arrivals to the United States during the month.
Top overseas tourism arrivals in December:
- United Kingdom: 291,982 visitors
- Brazil: 218,892 visitors
- Colombia: 158,728 visitors
- Japan: 156,826 visitors
- South Korea: 143,425 visitors
Top overseas business travel markets:
- India: 27,538 visitors
- United Kingdom: 25,416 visitors
- Japan: 22,371 visitors
- Germany: 13,518 visitors
- South Korea: 13,442 visitors
Top overseas student arrivals:
- China: 16,110 students
- India: 14,900 students
- South Korea: 4,228 students
- Taiwan: 2,588 students
- Brazil: 2,102 students
For the full year, total international visitor arrivals to the United States reached 68,287,793 in 2025. This represented a decrease of 5.5 percent compared with 2024 and equaled 86 percent of the total visitor arrivals recorded in 2019 before the pandemic.
Overseas visitor arrivals during the year totaled 34,289,238, representing a decline of 2.5 percent compared with 2024.
Regions that recorded growth in visitor arrivals to the United States in 2025:
- Central America: 1,688,028 visitors, up 4.7 percent
- Eastern Europe: 1,126,172 visitors, up 2.5 percent
- Middle East: 1,123,909 visitors, up 2 percent
Mexico remained the largest international source market for U.S. tourism in 2025 with 17,980,030 visitors, a growth of 6.4 percent compared with 2024. Canada ranked second with 16,018,525 visitors, although arrivals from Canada declined by 20.9 percent year over year.
Top U.S. ports of entry for international visitors in 2025:
- New York: 5,846,403 visitors
- Miami: 4,725,981 visitors
- Los Angeles: 3,200,172 visitors
Meanwhile, outbound international travel by U.S. citizens continued to grow. Departures reached 10,205,347 in December 2025, representing 115 percent of the total departures recorded in December 2019 before the pandemic.
Top destinations for U.S. outbound travel in December:
- Mexico: 4,263,541 departures (41.8 percent of all departures)
- Canada: down 9.2 percent compared with the previous year
Combined year-to-date figures show that Mexico with 39,680,600 trips and the Caribbean with 11,339,823 together represented 46.7 percent of all international departures by U.S. citizens.
Europe was the second-largest destination region for American travelers, recording 1,590,280 departures in December. This accounted for 15.6 percent of all outbound travel and represented a 2.9 percent increase compared with December 2024.
Photo Credit: EvaL Miko / Shutterstock.com
