Although the number of tourist arrivals Still far from pre-pandemic levels, the tourist currency indicator continues its upward trend.
This reflects a significant increase in spending by tourists during their stay in Mexico, especially those who come for recreation, family or work.
According to figures from the Inegi International Traveler Surveys (EVI), during November 2021 the total income of foreign exchange for tourism reached 2,133.3 million dollars. This figure represented an increase of 149% in relation to the same month of 2020 and a growth of 12% compared to the same month of 2019.
For its part, in this penultimate month of 2021 Mexico received 5 million 005,576 international travelers. This figure includes border tourists, inbound tourists, and day trippers who come and go on the same day.
This level of inflows was slightly higher than the previous month, taking into account the beginning of the holiday season end of the year. Additionally, it was also higher than in November of the previous year, when the country and much of the world faced new outbreaks of Covid-19 contagions and borders were closed.
Despite this visible recovery in international tourism, the number of international visitors is still below pre-pandemic levels. In November 2019, for example, total arrivals reached just over 8.5 million.
The trend that tourism indicators have shown, then, is that although there are fewer visitors, those who arrive spend much more money or extend their stays in Mexico. This situation has promoted the participation of sightseeing in the generation of foreign exchange that remains one of the three sectors that contribute the most, along with remittances and the automotive sector.
The persistence of new Covid-19 variants and unstable prices around the world continue to pressure national and international tourism.