Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico predicts record tourist visits this year. But it's not because of a surge visitors from the United States.

Don't get Mexico wrong. US tourists still represent the lion's share of foreign visitors, and Mexico welcomes them and their green dollar bills. But the country is reaching out to visitors from countries such as Russia, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia after fears of drug violence and the recession reduced the number of visitors from their northern neighbors.

The effort seems to be paying off.

Based on rising tourism numbers in the first half of the year, Mexican tourism officials predict the country will host 24.7 million foreign visitors in 2012, surpassing last year's record of 23.4 million.

The growth is good news for Mexico because tourism represents nearly 10% of the nation's gross domestic product and the country has been living under the specter of a drug war.

"Despite one of the worst financial crises in years, a flu outbreak, and security challenges, we are seeing the highest tourism numbers ever," Mexico's secretary of tourism, Gloria Guevara, said in an interview.

In the first half of the year, Mexico saw a 77% increase in Russian visitors, a 61% jump in tourists from Brazil, and a 38% bump in visitors from Venezuela, according to Sectur (Mexico's tourism officials.) Meanwhile, the number of travelers from the United States dropped 1%.

Guevara attributes the uptick in foreign tourists to several changes made since 2010 by the Mexican government to reduce its dependency on US tourists. Among those, she said, was allowing foreign visitors to enter the country with a United States visa in lieu of a Mexican visa. In addition, Mexico created an online process to review visa applications within 24 hours for travelers from Brazil, Ukraine, China, and Russia and waived the need for a visa from Peruvians, Chileans, and Colombians.

"It's like having a business plan for the entire country with one goal," Guevara said.

Besides making it easier for foreign visitors to travel to Mexico, Guevara said Mexican President Felipe Calderon has supported an investment of almost $400 billion in infrastructure improvements from 2006 to 2012, a 23% increase over the previous six-year period. That total includes upgrades to many roads, including the route between Mexico City and the tourist town of Oaxaca, reducing the travel time by about half.

The country has not given up on the US, which still represents 70% of all tourists traveling by air to Mexico. But Guevara said Mexico's federal government realized the country was too dependent on the United States for tourism spending.

Violence, a swine flu outbreak, and the global economic crisis have all helped push down the number of US visitors to Mexico in the last few years. In 2011, the number dropped to 19.9 million, compared with 20.3 million in 2008, according to the US Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.

Guevara defends Mexico, saying tourists are rarely threatened by any kind of violence.

"Ask someone who has been in Mexico yesterday, a week ago' or even a year ago," she said. "Our tourist destinations are fine, but we have hot spots like any country."