During the last days of February 2020, the first cases of Covid-19 and in a couple of months the country was already confined, at the same time a large part of the world closed its borders to the outside. Tourism was one of the hardest hit sectors, especially international tourism.
Two years after the pandemic, Mexico shows a recovery of almost 60% in the total number of international travelers entering the country, according to figures from the International Traveler Surveys (EVI) of the Inegi.
In February 2022, 4 million 628,275 people entered the country, counting those who travel for tourism, migrants or hikers. This level of inflows implied an advance of 36.1% compared to 2021, but still a drop of 43% compared to the level registered in 2020.
Although the arrival of international visitors has not yet reached its pre-pandemic levels, it has been observed that tourists who arrive in Mexico now spend much more than before the pandemic. During 2021, in fact, records were broken in the level of foreign exchange entered for this concept.
During this second month of 2022, Mexico entered a total of 2,116 million dollars from international tourism. If the level of visitors and the total amount of foreign currency received are then compared, it is found that, on average, each tourist spent 475 dollars (just over 9,000 pesos) during their stay in the country.
Before the pandemic, for example in February 2020, the average check was 288 dollars per tourist (approximately 5,700 pesos).
A trend towards an increase in the length of stay of visitors has also been observed, especially of internment tourists, who are those who come mainly by plane and for work, family or vacation reasons.
The reactivation of tourism is essential in the post-pandemic recovery process of the national economy; This sector is one of the three that contributes the most foreign currency to the country (only after the remittances and automotive manufacturing). Before the pandemic, tourism employed 2.3 million people and represented almost 9% of Mexico’s GDP.
These trends are expected to continue; already in 2021 the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) warned that Mexico was the country most visited by international tourists, only after France. The UNWTO estimated a total of 31.9 million revenues this year.