Mexico’s tourism industry benefited as the Holy Week holiday period moved entirely into March for the first time in eight years, as it continues to recover from the industry-wide downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mexico’s National Statistics Institute, INEGI, reported this week that 7,599,703 people entered Mexico in March, a healthy 10.8% increase compared to the same month in 2023. Of these, 4.1 million were foreign tourists, an increase of 10.6% from 3.7 million in March 2023.
How much money do foreign tourists spend in Mexico?
Visitor spending increased by 11.3%, primarily driven by visitor numbers, with average spending per tourist (just over USD 458) increasing by 11.3%. This was an increase of only 0.5% compared to March. 2023.
Tourism receipts in March were also significantly higher than those recorded in February (US$3.18 billion), which includes this year’s Leap Day, but the average amount spent per tourist was lower than in the two months of this year. It was an astonishing figure of 479 USD.
According to INEGI data, domestic and foreign tourists spent a total of US$3.5 billion in March this year, an increase of 11.3% compared to the same month last year, when tourists in Mexico spent US$3.1 billion.
Tourist spending increased by 11.3% compared to March 2023. (Daniel Augusto/Quartoscuro)
Of this amount, international travelers spent US$3.26 billion in Mexico, an increase of 10.8% compared to March 2023, when international travelers spent US$2.8 billion in Mexico.
INEGI broke down the revenue numbers in more detail. Tourists who spent at least one night in Mexico spent an average of USD 1,119.77 per person, tourists who arrived by plane spent USD 1,222.22 per person, and tourists who arrived by car spent only USD 304.85 per person . Visitors who crossed the border on a day trip spent an average of US$106.75.
Mexico is emerging as a global tourist destination
The influx of tourists continues to trend upward, with more than 42 million international tourists visiting Mexico in 2023, an increase of 10% compared to 2022. In the first three months of 2024, 11,221,562 international tourists visited Mexico, an increase of nearly 7% from the previous year. From January to March 2023, 10,498,230 international visitors arrived in Mexico.
According to Travel + Leisure, Mexico was the seventh most visited country in the world in 2023, behind France, the United States, Spain, China, Italy, and Turkey. In December 2023, the United Nations reported that global tourist numbers had recovered by 90% since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
As reported by Forbes México, Infobae and La Jornada
