The World Cup Bump Lasted Exactly One Month

International visitors spent nearly $20.4 billion on travel to the United States and on tourism-related activities within it during July, a decrease of almost 1 percent from July 2025, according to new figures from the National Travel and Tourism Office. The timing is what makes the number sting: July was the month of the FIFA World Cup final matches, an event that had lifted both spending and arrivals in June and that the industry expected to carry through the summer. It did not.

The arrivals picture is worse than the spending picture. Earlier July data from the International Trade Administration showed international arrivals fell 7 percent from July 2025 – and July 2025 had itself recorded dramatic year-on-year declines, meaning this is a drop measured against an already depressed base. Airline fares paid by international visitors fell 3 percent in July to $2.8 billion, a category that accounts for roughly 14 percent of United States travel and tourism exports in the month.

The traffic is moving in the other direction. Americans spent close to $20 billion travelling abroad in July, up almost 3 percent year on year, even though the number of Americans heading overseas actually fell 2.2 percent. Fewer travellers spending more money is a familiar pattern in a market where the dollar is strong and the travellers who remain are skewing toward higher-value trips. Over the January-to-July period, inbound international visitor spending is roughly flat against 2025 at about $145.4 billion.

One category is growing. Medical, education and short-term worker spending accounted for 31 percent of United States travel and tourism exports in July and rose 3 percent to $6.3 billion, meaning nearly a third of what the country earns from foreign visitors comes from people who are not on holiday at all. The overall read on June’s improvement is that it was a short-term World Cup effect rather than a turning point, and that the underlying inbound trend for the United States has not yet changed direction.

Sources: TravelPulse, National Travel and Tourism Office