Ask who travels to Boston and the honest answer is not the one the postcards suggest. The single most valuable foreign market for this city is not in Europe or Asia. It is directly to the north.
Canada is the market that matters
In 2024, Canadian visitors spent $620.7 million in Boston — more than British and Chinese visitors combined. The United Kingdom followed at $241.6 million, China at $206.7 million, India at $163.8 million and France at $116.5 million, according to Tourism Economics data published by Meet Boston.
Canada is also one of the few large markets that has grown. Measured against 2019, Canadian spending in Boston is up 27%. Ireland is up 30%, India up 20%, Portugal up 13%.
The recovery is lopsided
Against those gains sit the losses, and they are concentrated in one region. Chinese spending in Boston is down 55% on 2019. Australia is down 29%, Japan down 25%, South Korea down 25%, the United Kingdom down 12%.
Total international visits to Boston reached 2,462,200 in 2024, still 8.0% below the 2,676,900 recorded in 2019. Total international visitor spending was $2.72 billion, 7.7% short of the 2019 figure — and forecast to reach $3.26 billion by 2029.
By region of origin, spending now splits Europe 40%, Asia 25%, Canada 23%, with Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania sharing the remainder. Europe has rebuilt. Asia has not.
What Logan tells you that the visitor numbers do not
Boston Logan handled 43,236,013 passengers in calendar 2025, marginally down on the 43,500,033 of 2024. Total flight operations fell by roughly 6,300 movements. On the face of it, a flat year.
Underneath, the mix changed. International passengers rose to 10,030,775, up from 9,659,955, while domestic passengers fell from 33,735,044 to 33,135,252. Fewer Americans, more foreign arrivals.
For hotels that is not a neutral swap. International visitors typically stay longer than domestic ones, which is one reason room demand has held up better than passenger counts alone would suggest. On a fiscal-year basis Massport reported a record — nearly 44 million passengers in FY2025, up 5% — alongside 465,000 cruise passengers through Flynn Cruiseport, up 22%.
The wider Massachusetts picture
Statewide, Massachusetts received 52.6 million domestic and international travellers in 2024, who spent $24.2 billion — $600 million more than 2023 — generating $2.3 billion in state and local tax revenue and supporting 155,808 jobs, according to the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.
Closer in, the National Parks of Boston counted 2.9 million visitors in 2023, whose $196.5 million of local spending supported 2,430 jobs. That is the Freedom Trail, Charlestown Navy Yard and the harbour islands, measured.
What it means if you are visiting
Two practical readings. First, if you are coming from Canada, Ireland or India, you are part of a growing flow and you will find a city increasingly used to you. Second, the drop in Asian long-haul volumes has not translated into cheaper rooms — because, as our piece on the Boston hotel market shows, supply is not growing either.
Sources and method
Visitation and spending figures come from Tourism Economics, published by Meet Boston. Airport figures come from the Massachusetts Port Authority aviation series, with the fiscal-year record reported by WBUR. Statewide figures come from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, and national park visitation from the National Park Service.
Two cautions. Massport's domestic and international passenger counts do not sum exactly to the published totals, so each should be read on its own rather than added. And a widely repeated claim that Boston receives "around 20 million visitors a year" has no published methodology and contradicts the Tourism Economics count; we have not used it.
These figures are free to reuse with a link back to this page.
Frequently asked
How many international visitors does Boston get?
2,462,200 international visits in 2024, of which 1,581,100 were overseas visits excluding Canada and Mexico.
Where do Boston's foreign visitors come from?
By spending, Canada leads by a wide margin, followed by the United Kingdom, China, India and France. By region, Europe accounts for 40% of international spending, Asia 25% and Canada 23%.
How busy is Boston Logan?
43.2 million passengers in calendar 2025, of whom 10.0 million were international.
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