The winter holidays which start on December 18th, 2021 and last until January 9th, 2022, will generate 173,066 billion pesos thanks to the consumption of tourism services, according to the estimates of the Secretariat of Mexican Tourism (SECTUR).
This amount will be 11.4% lower compared to 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, when tourism consumption accounted for 195,511 million pesos.
According to the latest edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, Mexico together with Croatia and Turkey were among the best performers regarding the period July-September 2021.
The UNWTO stated that despite improvements, uneven vaccination rates around the world and new mutations of Covid-19 could affect the already slow and fragile tourism recovery. In Mexico, the Ministry of Tourism predicted that by the end of 2021, the tourism GDP would account for 7.1% of the total National GDP.
"The upcoming winter season is approaching the levels of tourism activity of winter 2019, with a recovery of 93.7% in tourist arrivals, only 6.3% below 2019 figures, this is equivalent to 558,000 travelers," emphasized Miguel Torruco Marqués, the head of Sectur.
Hotel occupancy nationwide is expected to be 54.6%, or 3.7% less compared to the winter season of 2019 when the overall occupancy was 58.3% overall in the same period.
Among the tourism destinations where a higher occupancy is expected are the sun and beach destinations: Riviera Nayarit and Nuevo Vallarta, with an occupancy of 81.4%, Puerto Vallarta with 77.6%, Cancun with 76.6%, Riviera Maya with 75.2%, Los Cabos with 78.1%, and Acapulco with 61.2%.
Meanwhile, Mexico City will reach an occupancy rate of 48.6%. Monterrey will have an occupancy of 48.8%, the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, 38.2%, and Zacatecas, 55%, according to estimates.
Also, Sectur expects a lodging consumption revenue of $16,797 billion pesos for this season, 10.9% lower than in 2019, when it reached 18,862 billion pesos.