NTTO Suspends Visitor Data Release Due to Inaccuracies

The International Trade Administration’s National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) announced Monday it has temporarily suspended the release of data on overseas arrivals to the United States.

The NTTO said the decision was made due to underlying technical issues with a significant number of I-94 records received from the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.

Customs and Border Protection numbers received by NTTO were identified as having “significant and increasing anomalies” that impacted the DHS I-94 visitor arrivals data. The agency said no data would be reported until the records are properly identified, categorized and counted.

“The National Travel and Tourism Office is committed to providing accurate statistics on international travelers to the United States as defined by international standards for the travel and tourism sector,” National Travel and Tourism Office director Isabel Hill said in a statement. “NTTO is working with CBP and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve these issues. NTTO will resume publication of these data as soon as possible.”

One of the major issues discovered was a number of non-citizens traveling on visas to the U.S. being categorized as residents. The travelers were removed from the visitor count, which resulted in a probable undercount for 2017.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses these data when calculating the balance of trade, as expenditures by these visitors are counted as exports for America. The data is also used by destinations and private-sector companies in expanding exports, as well as government agencies in the development of policy.