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 Travel & Outdoors | August 2005 
Tourism Sector Expects Rise in 2005
 Karen Mahabir - The Herald Mexico
| | The industry is forecasting a US2 billion increase from last year. |
The country's tourism industry expects to pull in US13 billion in revenue this year US2 billion more than last year despite continuing violence on the border, Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo reports.
Between January and June of this year, more than 11 million people mostly from the United States, Canada and Europe visited the country, an increase of 10 percent compared with the same period last year. Between those months, the country pulled in US6.4 million in tourism, 17 percent more than in the first semester of 2004.
In addition, 3.5 million people visited the country by sea, almost 18 percent more than during the first half of 2004.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Elizondo said Mexico is safe from "conflicts, guerrillas or bomb explosions that have killed many people." He added that "in spite of some incidents in certain areas," tourist activity has grown so far this year.
Although violence in Nuevo Laredo worries the government, "it has not translated into a decrease in visitors." In fact, visitors to the border area have increased by 1.6 percent. More than 100 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo this year, including 15 police officers, in an ongoing turf battle between rival drug gangs for control of smuggling routes into the United States.
Elizondo also said that no other country has alerted its citizens about the risk of visiting Mexico, adding "we, for example, have not told our citizens not to visit London because a bomb exploded there."
El Universal contributed to this article |
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