Last year, Mexico received 24 million foreign visitors. Between January and November international visitor arrivals by air in Mexico grew by 9.9% compared to the same period in 2013, reaching 11.5 million passengers, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) reported.
According to the General Director of Turissste, an independent agency, Juan Carlos Arnau Ávila, this year tourism will experience growth equal to or greater than the growth of 14% achieved in 2014, which was 2 digits above the previous year’s growth. This makes Mexico still a major player in the sector.
More than 150 million Mexicans traveled all over the country, thanks to the government’s focus on "an Inclusive Mexico ", led by President Enrique Peña Nieto. It is expected that unlike 2014, when attention was focused on bringing tourism to Michoacán, this year it is mainly the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas that will be promoted.
There was a 10.8% increase in the number of visitors coming from the United States, moving from 5.8 million between January and November 2013, to 6.4 million during the corresponding period in 2014.
Tourist arrivals from Canada rose by 5.1%; 1.3 million arrived in the first 11 months of 2013 while 1.4 million arrived over the corresponding period in 2014.
Meanwhile, the number of UK tourists increased from 384,000 between January and November 2013 to 424,000 during the same period in 2014, representing an increase of 10.6%.
Similarly, the Tourism Ministry revealed, during the first 11 months of 2014, the number of tourists from Colombia grew by 25.1%, and from Spain by 9.8%.