Friday, November 29, 2024

International tourist arrivals to Mexico up 9.3% in May

The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Mexico grew 9.3% in May, to 3.3 million, said the Institute of National Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

Including domestic tourists, a total of 5.9 million people visited Mexican tourist attractions in May, a figure 14.2% higher than last year. The increase in tourist numbers comes after a slowdown in April, which saw a 1.9% decrease compared to April 2022. 

Tourists in Playa del Carmen
276,000 more tourists visited Mexico in May 2023, although overall spending is lower than in 2022. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)

Despite this slowdown, INEGI says that 276,000 more international tourists visited Mexico this May than during the same month in 2022. The months registering the most visitors are December and June.

The decline in tourist numbers during April was the first month since April 2021 that numbers fell, as the Mexican tourist industry — a critical component of the economy — continues to rebound after extensive disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While absolute numbers of tourists are higher, per capita spending has dropped compared to 2022 — a total of 7.4% lower — for an average spend of US $652 per tourist. Lower spending is likely a reaction to the stamina of the superpeso, which briefly strengthened to below 17 pesos to the U.S. dollar last week. The figure is some US $15 million less than what tourists spent in the same period last year. 

Spending by tourists in April was also down 5.2% compared to 2022.

However, the increased number of visitors meant that total revenue still rose by 1.2%. Visitors who arrived via air had a higher average spend of US $1,096, according to INEGI figures.

With reports from El Financiero 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Cows in an outdoor corral in a row. The first one is looking at the camera

US suspends Mexican cattle imports after flesh-eating worm detected in Chiapas

1
The temporary halt occurred after Mexico told the USDA that it found a New World screwworm in a cow from outside Mexico at a checkpoint in Catazajá, Chiapas.
Donald Trump holding a printout of a color line graph whose details are not visible while he stands at a podium in a desert location near the U.S. border.

Rolling Stone: Trump team has discussed ‘soft invasion’ of Mexico

11
The magazine quotes sources close to Donald Trump and claims that he's interested in sending the U.S. military to Mexico to take out drug cartel leaders.
A member of Greenpeace Mexico stands on a mountain of trash at the Coatzacoalcos landfill wearing a hazmat suit with a sign reading "Ley Antiplasticos YA!"

At overflowing Veracruz landfill, Greenpeace Mexico demands anti-plastic laws

0
The activists called for enforcement of existing plastic bans and management of unregulated dump sites.