Tourist currencies rise in March at their lowest rate in two years

The capture of tourist currencies slows down. During March, Mexico received the historic figure for that month of 2,916.6 million dollars of total spending from foreigners who visited the country. Despite the fact that it represented an annual growth of 9%, it was the lowest since March 2021, which was the last in which the indicator had negative comparisons as a result of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Based on data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), the arrival of international tourists had an increase of 7.9%, compared to March last year, adding three million 571,194, leaving double-digit increases behind. of the previous seven months.

Regarding the average expenditure of all foreigners, in the third month of the year it totaled 435.42 dollars, which meant a 7.4% drop in annual comparison (motivated by the 5.1% drop in land arrivals). On the contrary, the average spending of international tourists who arrive by air (and represent 85% of the total currencies) grew 3.6% to add 1,187.47 dollars.

The slowdown in foreign exchange was highlighted in a recent report by Grupo Empresarial Estrategia (GEMES), which highlighted the 9% drop in the arrival of visitors from the United States, the main tourist source market for Mexico, during March.

“The US market is going through a serious situation. Since May 2021, the pre-pandemic level of arrivals by air has been exceeded, since then maintaining an extraordinary performance that lost momentum this year. While more U.S. visitors continue to arrive than before the pandemic, arrivals fell for the first time in two years at the annual rate, reporting a 9 percent contraction. This data is even more worrying if one considers that March is the month with the greatest influx due to the spring break”, explained his area of ​​tourism analysis.

On the afternoon of this Wednesday, the Ministry of Tourism issued a statement in which its owner, Miguel Torruco, announced that the income of foreign currency from international visitors between January and March 2023 was 8,338 million dollars, this It is 23.1% more compared to the same period in 2022, and also surpassing with 18.4% what was captured in the first quarter of 2019, which was 7,045 million dollars.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx