In the first half of 2018, 20.6 million international tourists arrived in Mexico, 7.3% higher than the 19.2 million registered in the same period of 2017; while the income of foreign currency by foreign visitors registered an increase of 4.3%, going from 11 thousand 107 million dollars to 11 thousand 582 million dollars, reported the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) of the Government of the Republic.
According to the report of “Results of the Tourist Activity”, in June 2018, published by Datatur (a statistical platform that feeds on figures and data generated by Banco de México and INEGI), belonging to the SECTUR, Mexico maintains a constant growth in the arrival of international tourists and job creation, despite US State Department travel warnings to many areas of Mexico. Likewise, the SECTUR indicated that the flow of international tourists from Mexico to the exterior grew by 11.4%, increasing from 8.5 million to 9.5 million tourists for the first six months of the year. There are no restrictions on U.S. travel for stays in the following tourist areas in Jalisco state: Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Ajijic.
He pointed out that 4 million 191 thousand cruise passengers arrived at the different ports of our country in the first semester, which meant a growth of 10.4%, compared to the 3 million 797 thousand passengers that did it in the January-June period of last year.
The results report states that in the first half of 2018, 40.3 million domestic and international tourists arrived at hotel rooms, reflecting an increase of 2.8% compared to the 39.2 reported for the first six months of last year.
In addition, during the January-June 2018 period the arrival of 9 million 639 thousand foreign visitors was recorded by air to Mexico, which represented an increase of 5.4% compared to the 9 million 147 thousand visitors observed in the same period of 2017 .
Based on the results of January-June 2018 and considering the first ten countries of residence with the highest volume of air visits to Mexico, it is observed that the countries that showed double-digit growth were Peru with 26.9%, Canada with 15.8% , Colombia with 13.6% and Argentina with 11.6%.
He points out that the Tourist GDP registered a growth of 2% in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period of 2017.
On the other hand, the Federal Ministry of Tourism reported that during the second quarter of 2018 the employed population in the tourism sector was located at 4 million 130 thousand direct jobs, a figure that marks a historical maximum since 2006 and represented 8.6% of total employment.
This means the highest number of employment in the tourism sector since 2006, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) captured in the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), for the second quarter of 2018.
These data, presented in turn by the Secretariat for Planning and Tourism Policy of the Ministry of Tourism, specify that the report is based on the methodology approved by the Working Group of the Specialized Technical Committee of Economic Statistics of the Tourism Sector (CTEEEST), integrated by the INEGI, the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and the Sectur.
Finally, the Sectur reported that tourist employment increased 2.5% in the second quarter of 2018 with respect to the same period of 2017, a figure higher than that achieved by national employment, which was 2.0%. This increase, meant 98 thousand 999 direct jobs.
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