The tourism-related economy of Mexico witnessed a 7.3% annual growth in the first quarter of 2023, driven largely by the consumption and services availed by foreign visitors.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported this on Friday.
The rise of the tourism sector’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as referred to by Inegi, is attributed to an annual increase of 1.5% in the field of tourism goods and 8.4% in services.
Moreover, tourist consumption grew by 8% annually from January to March, with an increase of 6.4% internally and 13.7% from foreign tourists.
Inegi’s quarterly indicators of tourist activity reported a quarterly growth of 0.1% in the tourism economy in Q1 2023 compared to the previous quarter. This was due to a quarterly rise of 0.6% in goods and 0.1% in services.
Foreign tourist consumption also increased by 0.4% quarterly, showing an uptick of 9.9%, while internal consumption saw a reduction of 1.8% over the quarter.
These numbers indicate the recovery of Mexico’s tourism sector after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The country received 10.06 million international tourists in Q1 2023, an annual increase of 17.3%, contributing to revenue of US$8.338 billion, a 23.1% increase.
This economic growth is largely spurred by consumption.
In 2022, Mexico, being the third most visited country during the pandemic, welcomed 38.3 million international tourists – a 20.3% increase compared to 2021, and saw foreign exchange income amounting to US$26.346 billion, a rise of over 42% year-on-year.