The number of Indian visitors arriving in the United States in 2024 was 552 pc higher than the number received in the year 2020, says a report by National Travel and Tourism Office, which is part of the United States Department of Trade and is the official body of the government with the mandate to promote tourism.

In a press statement, the NTTO says that this makes India the best performing global source market for the US in the post-pandemic era. On the current year, it says international tourists visiting the United States in 2025 is likely to exceed 77.1 million, reflecting a 6.5 pc growth over the international arrivals in 2024.

The NTTO says that the new data provides a year-by-year look at data from 2019 and forecasts through 2029. It says that an additional 4.7 million travellers from other countries will visit the US this year. The forecast is trending upward, with 85 million predicted to visit in 2026 and 90.1 million visitors expected to visit in 2027, reaching the five-year goal set by the 2022 National Travel and Tourism Strategy.

The NTTO expects that in 2027, the 90.1 million travellers would spend USD 279 billion across the United States and that it is expected that significant global events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be held across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics, hosted in Los Angeles, will boost the nation’s visitor totals.

The NTTO says that from 2023 to 2024, international visitation rose 9.1 pc, with 72.4 million travellers. This year isn’t expected to reach the pre-pandemic total of 79.4 million, but is a good sign that the nation’s visitor totals continue trending upward. The United States has taken much longer to recover from the pandemic than European countries and much of the wider world.

NTTO says that travellers from some countries, or source markets, notably India and Italy, have been visiting the United States more than before the pandemic. It says that the Indian visitation has grown 552 pc since 2020. The number of Italian visitors is expected to grow 7.5 pc this year.

NTTO adds that the source markets expected to grow include Mexico, Brazil and Canada. However, the US Travel Association, a Non-Government Organisation, has warned that the number of Canadians visiting the US could decline this year due to the trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Canada, which have caused the nation to ban the sale of certain American goods and promote boycotting tourism to the US.