By: Charles Sipe
Mexico Tourism Rebound
Although the recession and warnings of violence has hurt tourism in 2009, visitors to Mexico has rebounded in 2010.
According to an article from International Living:
This year the tourists are back. So far in 2010, over 7.1 million international tourists have come to Mexico, a 19% increase over last year, say Ministry of Tourism officials. Even more noteworthy, tourist numbers are 6% higher than in 2008—the last banner year for Mexican tourism. (These figures are based on tourists arriving by air.)…
Most returning tourists are avoiding the border area, which is associated with the on-going drug war violence. Instead, they tend to head south, toward beach areas that are little affected by violence. In August, for instance, both Cancún and Los Cabos, in Baja California Sur, saw about a 30% increase over last year in the number of visitors.
Vacancies still remain high in many resort properties and rates are still depressed, however Mexico is faring better than the world as a whole which has seen slower growth.
According to LA Times:
Memories of last year have started to fade,” said Anthony Concil, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Assn., a trade group for the world’s airlines.
The sharp increase in visitors to Mexico is also significant because Concil and other analysts have predicted only modest growth in travel worldwide. International air travel, for example, was up 6% in August compared with a year earlier, according to the International Air Transport Assn.
Mexico’s Tourism Minister, Gloria Guevara, expects international tourists to reach 22.6 million this year and tourism investment is also up.
According to an article from Bloomberg:
From January to July, Mexico’s tourism industry received $1.8 billion in investment, 28 percent more than in the same period in 2009, Guevara said.
“This shows confidence in Mexico continues,” Guevara said. “Investors are still betting on Mexico and betting on tourism.”