The U.S. Travel Insights Dashboard

Overall: February data marked a broad acceleration in travel demand following a positive but subdued January. Travel spending rose 3.4% year over year to $102 billion, and hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) turned positive across all location types, reaching a 4.3% national average year over year growth compared to 0.4% in January. Resort properties led at 5.8% growth. 

Looking ahead, several risks have emerged: tariff-related supply shocks, oil prices pushing above $100 per barrel and financial market volatility, each of which may pressure consumer spending and business investment in the near term.

The labor market did not move in step with demand: leisure and hospitality employment declined by 27,000 jobs, marking a second consecutive monthly contraction, while sector wage growth matched the national average, rising 3.7%.

 International: Overseas arrivals turned positive after nine consecutive monthly declines, rising 0.8% in February, though this recovery appears partly attributable to the Lunar New Year calendar shift from January 2025 to February 2026. A single month of marginal growth does not reverse the cumulative demand erosion of the prior nine months.  Year-to-date arrivals remain 1.9% below the previous year.

Domestic: The domestic picture is stronger, though uneven. Air passenger throughput grew 2.7% to 64.3 million, ; and hotel demand increased 2.9%, with RevPAR turning positive across every location type, reaching a 4.3% national average compared to 0.4% in January. Short-term rental demand declined 6.3%, extending its contraction to five consecutive months even as the hotel sector expanded. On the forward-looking side, the share of meeting planners reporting an improved outlook fell to 24%, down from 46% in December.

U.S. Travel members have access to the exclusive U.S. Travel Insights Dashboard, the most comprehensive and centralized source for high-frequency intelligence on the U.S. travel industry and the broader economy. The platform, powered by Tourism Economics, is supported by approximately 20 data partners and tracks industry performance, travel volumes and predictive travel indicators to provide members with a detailed, interactive view of travel's recovery and performance.

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