The U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) has turned out its quick release on key international arrivals numbers for 2021—the full year version—and these figures prompt the reader to hope that the worst is finally behind us.
About the future: One can’t really make a solid projection of what all the NTTO data this month mean, except to suggest that another pandemic—now a part of our consciousness—can make a mess out of anything. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen. Even so, with that as a caveat, there are some points that the full-year data raise that beg for answer.
● How, in the midst of a devastating year for every other source market for overseas tourism, did Colombia set a record for its output of visitors to the USA—more than a million, in fact. The short answer is that the country enjoys its status as a great place for travelers from other South American and Central American markets to connect to and from the United States. As well, according to OAG, Colombia has fewer impediments to international travel than any other major market, save Mexico. (See article on the subject here.)
● Will South America continue to have an increased share of the overseas visitation to the USA? Already, some carriers have announced plans to increase capacity to the continent and to the LATAM market in general.
● Will China and Japan (two out of the top three overseas country source markets) begin to relax requirements for international air traffic before the year 2022 becomes a non-starter?
Following are some of the latest data contained turned out by NTT0.
Non-Resident Arrivals to the U.S.
by World Region of Residence
December 2021 and Year-to-Date
| World Region of Residence | Number of Arrivals | 2021 Share | % Change from 2020 | Arrivals YTD 2021 (Thru December) | 2021 Share | % Change from 2020 |
| Western Europe | 641,872 | 37.8 | +2062.1 | 1,697,633 | 18.5 | -23.5% |
| Eastern Europe | 46,932 | 2.8 | +265.8 | 263,947 | 2.9 | +6.0% |
| Asia | 217,013 | 12.8 | +306.3 | 1,289,368 | 14.1 | -40.4% |
| Middle East | 56,432 | 3.3 | +290.5 | 512,779 | 5.6 | +95.8% |
| Africa | 17,266 | 1.0 | +97.0 | 153,841 | 1.7 | +43.6% |
| Oceania | 24,467 | 1.4 | +928.0 | 67,396 | 0.7 | -73.7% |
| South America | 406,312 | 23.9 | +153.2 | 3,018,855 | 32.9 | +110.7% |
| Central America | 150,829 | 8.9 | +142.5 | 1,180,707 | 12.9 | +201.9% |
| Caribbean | 138,525 | 8.2 | +95.6 | 990,181 | 10.8 | +93.7% |
| Total Overseas | 1,699,648 | 100.0 | +309.6 | 9,174,707 | 100.0 | +93.7% |
Top 20 Overseas Arrivals
Month of December 2021*
| Country of Residence & Rank | Arrivals | % Change |
| 1. United Kingdom | 198,383 | +3186.1% |
| 2. Colombia | 129,755 | +116.2% |
| 3. Brazil | 94,891 | +1996.1% |
| 4. France | 92,650 | +2219.1% |
| 5. India | 89,310 | +260.0% |
| 6. Germany | 84,114 | +2049.6% |
| 7. Spain | 60,980 | +1236.7% |
| 8. Dominican Republic | 55,953 | +75.9% |
| 9. Italy | 45,062 | 1524.4% |
| 10. Costa Rica | 39,166 | +103.9% |
| 11. Chile | 35,748 | +120.2% |
| 12. Argentina | 34,447 | +101.7% |
| 13. South Korea | 32,783 | +348.8% |
| 14. Peru | 32,282 | +123.6% |
| 15. Ecuador | 32,011 | 36.1 |
| 16. Guatemala | 31,004 | 139.4 |
| 17. Venezuela | 30,536 | 81.3 |
| 18. Netherlands | 29,645 | 1259.9 |
| 19. El Salvador | 29,541 | 163.2 |
| 20. Honduras | 28,924 | 162.5 |
*Quick Release—no Canada; no Mexico land arrivals
Top 20 Overseas Arrivals
Year-to-Date (thru December) 2021*
| Country of Residence & Rank | Arrivals | % Change |
| 1. Colombia | 1,063,659 | +293.8% |
| 2. United Kingdom | 460,749 | -36.9% |
| 3. India | 433,305 | +29.0% |
| 4. Ecuador | 407,417 | +140.6% |
| 5. Dominican Republic | 405,869 | +127.1% |
| 6. Peru | 404,937 | +340.5% |
| 7. Argentina | 301,794 | +52.6% |
| 8. Guatemala | 279,896 | +249.5% |
| 9. Costa Rica | 266,772 | +161.2% |
| 10. Germany | 249,154 | -15.2% |
| 11. Honduras | 241,579 | +250.0% |
| 12. Brazil | 239,336 | -43.5% |
| 13. France | 222,036 | -25.4% |
| 14. Venezuela | 221,502 | +153.9% |
| 15. Israel | 208,264 | +145.6% |
| 16. Chile | 207,333 | +57.1% |
| 17. El Salvador | 203,053 | +231.1% |
| 18. South Korea | 202,711 | -53.9% |
| 19. China, PRC | 191,776 | -49.3% |
| 29. Spain | 182,458 | +20.4% |
*Quick Release—no Canada; no Mexico land arrivals
Overseas Arrivals
2019-2020
| Year | Number of Overseas Arrivals |
| 2019 | 40.4 million |
| 2020 | 7.6 million |
International Arrivals
2019-2020
| Year | Number of International Arrivals |
| 2019 | 79.7 million |
| 2020 | 19.4 million |
Canada: Overseas Arrivals
2019-2020
| Year | Number of Overseas Arrivals |
| 2019 | 20.7 million |
| 2020 | 4.8 million |
Mexico: International Arrivals
2019-2020
| Year | Number of International Arrivals |
| 2019 | 18.3 million |
| 2020 | 7.04 million |
Special Note: INBOUND staff and the travel and tourism industry rely on the research staff at the National Travel and Tourism Office, led by David Huether, Deputy Director of Research, to provide monthly statistics and data on travel to and from the United States.
