The dollars that Mexico received for tourist services saw seven months of year-on-year growth.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (Inegi) reported that the Aztec country received US$ 2,464.6 million in tourist currency in May, a record figure that represented an increase of 7.7% in annual comparison, and received three million 408,791 international tourists, 4.9% more in the same month of 2023 (although the figure for the fifth month of 2019 was not exceeded: three million 463,849).
The dollars that Mexico received for tourist services saw seven months of year-on-year growth.
However, the data reported for May 2024 are affected by seasonality caused by being the second month of the year (after February) in which the flow of international tourists to Mexico decreases.
Despite the annual growth, in monthly comparisons the figures reflect a weakening in the collection of foreign currency when compared to what happened in 2019, prior to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, when tourism had a constant rate of growth.
In total income, the US$ 2,464.6 million last May represented a decrease of 8.8% compared to April, while in May 2019 the seasonal reduction was smaller: 7.6%, based on data from the institute .
In the case of the expenditure generated by international tourists arriving by air to Mexico (which represent 80% of the total), from April to May it was reduced by 7.5% and between the same months of 2019 it was 1.9% ( Even though the Mexican Tourism Promotion Council stopped operating that year, the effects of the strategies that had been implemented the previous year were still appreciated).
THE SECTUR CELEBRATES FIGURES
After Inegi published the data from the International Traveler Surveys (EVI), the Ministry of Tourism released a statement with the accumulated data from January to May, where it highlighted:
The Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico, Miguel Torruco Marqués, reported that the income of foreign currency from international visitors from January to May 2024 was US$ 14,975 million, this is 8.1% more compared to the same period. from 2023; Also exceeding by 35.1% what was raised from January to May 2019, which was US$ 11,081 million.
And in the arrival of international tourists, he reported that from January to May 2024 there were 18,127,690 million, which represented 6.1% more compared to what was captured during January-May 2023.
Without considering the greater seasonal decline in relation to 2019 and without the work of a Mexican tourism promotion organization, the agency reiterated that “the increase in foreign currency income from international visitors, as well as average spending by tourists, is a reflection that The tourism policy instructed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is correct, since this is how the tourism potential of a nation is measured, for the benefit of the local population, making tourism a tool for social reconciliation.
LAND ARRIVALS IMPROVE
In the current context, prior to the eventual appointment of the head of the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico for the next six-year term (where the private sector has expressed its desire for the dependency not to disappear), international tourism showed better performance in May.
According to Inegi, in that month, 293,760 international tourists arrived in the country by land, which implied a drop of 6.7% in annual comparison (in April the annual drop was 28.9%, motivated by issues of insecurity in the northern border).
On the other hand, in foreign currency collection the results were positive, despite the seasonal decline: they generated US$ 108.1 million in May, 3.1% more than the same month in 2023 (in April it was US$ 68.8 million , which meant a drop of 30.9%).
