04 September 2010

Mexican tourism unexpectedly up

So everyone would assume tourism is off in drug-plagued Mexico, right? Not according to Secretary of Mexico officials who say international visitors by air are on the upswing.

"According to National Institute of Migration, the United States was the main market source for travelers into Mexico, seeing 583,732 Americans arriving in the country, an impressive 20.1 percent increase in comparison to 2009," said tourism officials.

With the United States and Canada holding the top two spots in number of visitors, Spain comes in at number three with 35,893 Spanish travelers visiting Mexico in July, a 57.8 percent increase in respect to 2009.

France registered an increase of 39.4 percent, with 17,564 French travelers arriving in July 2010, compared to the 12,597 French passengers that visited Mexico in 2009.

"From January to July of this year, more than 6 million tourists traveled into Mexico via air, which represents an impressive 19.8 percent increase from the same period in 2009, " said a news release.

But foreign investment is also up.

"Mexico's federal government has invested more than US$3 billion into new tourism projects," said Gloria Guevara Manzo, Secretary of Tourism.

"The level of private investment has seen a 29.2 percent increase over the amount recorded in the same period of 2009," she added.

By David Wilkening