Mexico received 13.9% more international tourists last October than in the same month of 2021, accompanied by an increase of more than 12% in foreign currency income, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography reported this Friday. (Inegi).
3.17 million foreign tourists entered the country in the tenth month of 2022, compared to 2.78 million in the same period of the previous year, according to the report of the autonomous body.
The main annual upturn occurred in tourists arriving by land, which in October 2022 increased by 32.4% to exceed 330,000 people, while in the same month of 2021 they were just under 250,000.
Air tourists also rose by 22.3% to 1.64 million compared to 1.34 million the previous year.
The data reflects the impact of the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic, which has left more than 7.16 million infections and more than 331,000 deaths in Mexico, the fifth country with the most absolute deaths in the world.
In October 2022, total spending by international tourists shot up 12.2% year-on-year to $1,895.2 million from a previous figure of $1,689.7 million last year.
In contrast, the average spending of each tourist decreased by 1.5% to $597.08 in October compared to $606.38 in the tenth month of 2021.
Mexico had 31.9 million international tourists during 2021, 31.3% more than in 2020.
Foreign currency income from international visitors last year was 19,795.6 million dollars.
For this 2022, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) estimates the arrival of more than 40 million international tourists.
The gross domestic product (GDP) Tourism in Mexico, which before the health crisis represented 8.6% of the national economy in 2019, closed 2021 at 7.1% and in 2022 it will do so at 8.3%, according to government estimates.
Even so, Mexico was the third most visited country in the world in 2020, a temporary phenomenon that is attributed to flexible sanitary measures in the tourist areas of the country.
Before the pandemic, Mexico was consolidated in 2019 as one of the 10 most visited countries in the world, with more than 45 million international tourists who left 24.563 million dollars, an annual growth of 9%.
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