Tourism figures for the first half of the year show increases across the board, including 7.3% growth in foreign visitors.

The June report by federal tourism data agency Datatur said 20.6 million international tourists arrived in Mexican destinations between January and June, up from 19.2 million during the same period in 2017.

The revenue generated was almost US $11.6 billion, up 4.3% from $11.1 billion last year.

The flow of Mexican tourists traveling abroad also rose. Their numbers were up by 11.4%, from 8.5 million in 2017 to 9.5 million this year.

The number of cruise passengers that arrived in Mexican ports during the period was up by 10.4%, from 3.8 million to 4.2 million.

Hotel occupancy rates were also up: 40.3 million domestic and foreign tourists booked a hotel room, an increase of 2.8% over last year’s figures.

The number of foreign visitors who arrived by air was 9.6 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.

There was a big increase in Peruvian visitors during the period. Their numbers jumped 26.9%, followed by Canadians with a 15.8% rise, while Colombian and Argentinian visitor numbers were up 13.6% and 11.6% respectively.

The Datatur report also noted that tourism employed a record 4.13 million people during the second quarter of the year, 2.5% more than the second quarter of last year.

Source: Milenio (sp)