Mexico?s International Tourism Revenues Reach Historic High

Despite Hurricane Wilma’s lingering effect on room supply in the Mexican Caribbean in early 2006, Mexico closed the year with historically high international tourism revenues, pointing to a full recovery of the industry.

According to statistics recently released by Mexico’s Tourism Secretariat (Sectur), Mexico received 21.35 million international visitors in 2006, a 2.6 percent dip in comparison with 2005, due in part to reduced room availability in the Mexican Caribbean stemming from damages sustained by several hotels during Hurricane Wilma in late 2005. Despite this, from April to December 2006, international tourism arrivals for 2006 were above figures posted the year before in all but two months.

Thanks to more aggressive marketing to the affluent traveler in particular, however, revenue generated by these tourists reached a record high of US.18 billion, 3.2 percent higher than 2005’s revenue of US.80 billion. In 2004, Mexico’s international tourism revenues had totaled US.84 billion.

International visitors (excluding border tourists) to Mexico were reported to have spent an average of US0.30 per person per visit in 2006, representing a 4.7 percent increase from 2005’s US8.40 average spend.

Historically high international tourism revenues helped enable the tourism industry’s trade balance to post an impressive US.07 billion surplus in 2006.

Cruise ship passenger arrivals in 2006 posted strong numbers as well, with 6.52 million cruise passengers disembarking in Mexican ports, down only 2.8 percent from 2005 despite damage sustained from Hurricane Wilma to such leading cruise ports as Cozumel.

These passengers spent 458.3 million dollars in Mexico, compared with 452.6 million the previous year. (more…)

Mexico’s Tourism Sector “sports” An Active Edge

The numbers and revenue show that sports enthusiasts are increasingly traveling to Mexico to get their hearts pumping and muscles moving. Both amateur and professional athletes are contributing to the ever-continuing expansion of Mexico’s sports tourism segment.
Many sports benefit from Mexico’s natural beauty and unique backdrops, a fact not gone unnoticed by professional sporting event planners. Mexico has recently hosted many high-profile international sporting events, including Rip Curl’s Pro Search surfing event, part of the Association of Surfing Professionals’ Men’s World Championship Tour last June, and the PGA’s 2006 Champions Tour’s Puerto Vallarta Blue Agave Golf Classic last March. Upcoming events include the yearly Mexico City International Marathon in August.
Amateur athletes and sports lovers are also helping to spur Mexico’s sports sector growth. 2005 enjoyed robust numbers, with sports activities pumping approximately US.27 billion into the national economy. Several high-grossing sports activities which contributed to the impressive overall figure.

- In 2005, 600 thousand golfers traveled to Mexico, generating 0 million.

- Triathlons attracted 36 thousand travelers to Mexico, who in turn generated US million in 2005.

- In 2005, diving and relating activities produced US0 million in revenue.

- Sports fishing reeled in 0 million in 2005.
Bright future forecast for sports tourism

The increased popularity of Mexico’s sports tourism sector echoes travel developments on a global scale. The World Tourism Organization predicts that sports tourism will be the second most important travel segment by 2020.
Sports tourism’s bright future recently prompted Mexico Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo to underscore the importance of developing this segment during a national sports tourism conference.

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Private Investment in Mexico?s Tourism Sector Booming

Exceeding US.6 billion, private investment in Mexico’s tourism sector has already surpassed federal goals for the 2001 to 2006 period by 29 percent, reports Sectur in its latest comprehensive study on the subject. Domestic and foreign private investment reached the original US billion goal in June 2005, after increasing at least 12 percent annually since 2002.

The report also shows that interest in Mexico’s famous beaches remains high, with the sun and beach segment outpacing all other tourism products by garnering 48 percent of private investment. Three coastal states also ranked in the top three in amount of private investment received: Guerrero State (US.63 billion), Quintana Roo State (US.47 billion) and Nayarit State (US.5 million) captured almost 52 percent of the total amount invested between 2001 and 2006.

Approximately 89 percent of private investment in Guerrero went to tried-and-true beach resort Acapulco on the Pacific Ocean, whereas 82 percent of the private investment Quintana Roo received was channeled to the Mexican Caribbean hot spots Cancun and Riviera Maya. More than 60 percent of Nayarit’s private investment went to the Pacific resort town of Nuevo Vallarta.

Rounding out the top Mexican five states receiving the highest amount of public investment are border states of Baja California (US.3 million) and Sonora (US.4 million). Together, the states on the U.S./Mexico border, which also include Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, received 19 percent of private investment in Mexico, ranking the region second overall. (more…)