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 Travel & Outdoors | March 2005 
Tourism Industry Extends Recovery in Mexico
 Morgan Lee - Associated Press
| Cruise ships accounted for much of the tourist traffic increase, shuttling 7.6 million people through Mexico in 2004, up nearly a million visitors from 2003.
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Mexico City - Foreigners visited Mexico during 2004 in numbers not seen since before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mexican Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo announced Monday.
Some 20.6 million foreigners visited Mexico last year, up 10 percent from 2003, and surpassing annual visits in the late 1990s, according to Bank of Mexico statistics.
Elizondo said a global recovery in tourism was felt in this country, where more visitors spent more per capita in 2004.
"There are external factors ... like the value of the euro against the peso and the preference for short trips among North Americans," Elizondo said.
Cruise ships accounted for much of the tourist traffic increase, shuttling 7.6 million people through Mexico in 2004, up nearly a million visitors from 2003.
Income from foreign visitors jumped 14.6 percent to US$10.8 billion (euro8.4 billion) in 2004 – setting a new record. Tourists spend an average of US$674 (euro524) per trip, a 4.4 percent increase from 2003.
Of 20.6 million foreign visits, 9.1 million were to the border region and 11.5 million were to destinations in Mexico's interior.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory in late January alerting citizens of recent drug-trafficking and kidnapping violence in northern Mexico along the U.S. border.
No recent statistics were available to indicate whether the U.S. advisory has affected tourism.
Elizondo brushed aside concerns that the industry could be hurt by security issues.
"I believe there is a confidence in the country," Elizondo said. "If it is true that we have problems at several destinations in the country ... it's not something that alarms tourists – from the United States or Europe – enough that they stop coming to Mexico."
The domestic tourism market also showed signs of growth, with a 4 percent increase in hotel stays by Mexicans.
The tourism industry created 66,000 jobs in Mexico during 2004, by government estimates. |
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