Mexico records 12.8% surge in tourism revenue in first half of 2023, surpassing pre-pandemic figures

In the initial six months of 2023, Mexico recorded US$15.577 billion in revenue from international visitors, marking a 12.8% annual rise, according to the Mexican Ministry of Tourism (Sectur).

This amount also represents a 19.3% increase when compared to the first half of 2019, before the Covid pandemic’s impact, when the nation garnered US$13.058 billion, and health restrictions didn’t hamper the tourism sector.

Miguel Torruco, the Mexican Tourism Minister, highlighted that Mexico welcomed approximately 20.9 million international tourists during this period, as revealed by the International Travelers Survey published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Between January and June 2023, international visitor numbers grew by 11.7% compared to the same timeframe in 2022 and were just 8.9% shy of the 22.6 million tourists witnessed in 2019.

Torruco specified that within this period, 11.3 million global tourists arrived via commercial flights, resulting in a 10.1% surge in foreign currency income from air travelers.

This influx contributed US$13.109 billion to the economy, a 23.4% yearly rise, with an average spend of US$1,165.3 per tourist, up 2.9% from the first half of 2022 and 14.1% higher than the first half of 2019.

Furthermore, Mexico’s ports saw about 4.97 million cruise passengers, a 6.3% increase from the 4.7 million cruisers during the same period in 2019.

Revenue from these cruise tourists amounted to US$407.9 million, marking a 25.9% jump compared to the first half of 2019, which saw US$324.1 million.

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