Mexico, like many other countries, experienced a very complicated January that put a pause in the recovery that was shown after the great impact of 2020 due to the health crisis.
Humberto Molina, specialist in tourism economics at Gemes
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 slowed down the tourist recovery in Mexico. The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported this Thursday that during January the country received tourist currency for 1,980.7 million dollars, which represented a drop of 21.8% compared to the previous month (which reported the historical figure of 2,532.3 million dollars ), although it grew 112.1% in its annual comparison.
Despite the existence of a seasonality in the first month of the year (after the December holiday period), which was reflected in an average drop, compared to the previous month, of 7% between 2018 and 2020, during the recent January the drop was 21.8 percent.
In tourist arrivals, the institute reported the arrival of two million 644,596 international tourists (international tourists and border tourists), which meant a drop of 28.1% compared to the previous December and an increase of 37.5% in its annual comparison.
“Mexico, like many other countries, experienced a very complicated January that put a pause in the recovery that was shown after the great impact of 2020 due to the health crisis. Despite the drop due to seasonality, this time it was much greater due to the Omicron effect which, among other things, forced the cancellation of hundreds and hundreds of flights in the United States, which is our main issuing market,” said the specialist in tourism economics of the Strategy Business Group (GEMES), Humberto Molina.
In an interview, he stressed that the unprecedented impact had two aspects: tourists who canceled their trips for fear of getting infected and the contagion of air crews that forced planes to be grounded.
Despite the aforementioned figures, the average tourist spending item continues its upward trend, which reflects the true tourism potential of a country, according to the Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco.
“In January 2022, the average expenditure made per visitor was 428.6 dollars,” reported Inegi.