International tourism to Mexico increased over 10% annually in March

With the Holy Week vacation period falling entirely in March for the first time in eight years, Mexico’s tourism sector reaped the rewards as it continues to  bounce back from the industry-wide slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mexico’s national statistics agency INEGI reported this week that 7,599,703 visitors entered the country in March, a healthy 10.8% improvement over the same month in 2023. Of those visitors, 4.1 million were international tourists, up 10.6% from 3.7 million in March 2023.

How much money do international tourists spend in Mexico?

The increase in numbers brought with it an 11.3% rise in spending by the visitors, though this was primarily fueled by the greater number of visitors, as average spending-per-tourist (just over US $458) was only 0.5% higher than in March 2023.

March tourism revenues were also significantly higher than those recorded in February (US $3.18 billion) which included a Leap Day this year, but average spending-per-tourist was an impressive US $479 during the second month of the year.

The INEGI data reveals that international and national tourists spent a total of US $3.5 billion in March this year, an 11.3% increase over the same month a year ago when US $3.1 billion was spent by tourists in Mexico.

Of that total, international tourists spent US $3.26 billion, a 10.8% increase over March 2023 when travelers from abroad spent US $2.8 billion in Mexico.

INEGI broke down the revenue figures even further: Tourists who spent at least one night in Mexico spent an average of US $1,119.77 per person, with those arriving by air spending US $1,222.22 per person and those arriving by vehicle spending just US $304.85 per person. Visitors who crossed the border for a day trip spent an average of US $106.75.

Mexico on the rise as a global tourism destination

The inflow of tourists continues an upward trend that saw more than 42 million international tourists visit Mexico in 2023, a 10% increase over 2022. During the first three months of 2024, 11,221,562 international tourists traveled to Mexico, a nearly 7% increase over the 10,498,230 international visitors who arrived in Mexico from January-March 2023.

According to Travel + Leisure, Mexico was the 7th most-visited country in the world in 2023, behind France, the United States, Spain, China, Italy and Turkey. The United Nations reported in December 2023 that global tourism numbers had recovered by 90%  since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

With reports from Forbes México, Infobae and La Jornada