20.6 mn foreign tourists entered Mexico by air in 2022
Mexico City, Jan 29 (EFE).- Mexico welcomed 20.6 million international tourists by air during 2022 in a dramatic recovery of its tourism sector after the coronavirus pandemic, the Mexican government’s Tourism Secretariat (Sectur) reported Sunday.
According to figures compiled by the Immigration Policy Unit of the Government Secretariat’s Registry and Identity department, the number of international visitors arriving by air last year was 46.3 percent higher than for 2021.
In addition, it was 8.2 percent higher than the number the country welcomed by air in 2019, when 19.4 million international visitors arrived in Mexico.
Sectur said that a total of 15.6 million of those international travelers arrived from the United States, Canada and Colombia.
This represents an increase of 39.5 percent with respect to 2021 and an increase of 16.4 percent over the 13.4 million tourists arriving from those countries in 2019.
Sectur Secretary Miguel Torruco said that 13 million of the arriving tourists came from the US alone, 27 percent more than in 2021 and 23.7 percent more than in 2019.
Canada showed the biggest percentage increase, Torruco said, contributing 1.8 million arrivals, a 249.4 percent hike over 2021 but 23.8 percent fewer than in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Regarding Colombians, the 854,840 arrivals amounted to 88.8 percent more than the 2021 figure and 42.5 percent more than in 2019.
A total of 4.98 million people of other nationalities visited Mexico by air, an increase of 72.7 percent over 2021 and a market share of 24.2 percent.
The Mexican official also reported that the airports in Cancun, Mexico City’s International Airport (AICM) and Los Cabos were the ones welcoming the largest numbers of international tourists.
A total of 15.87 million tourists entered Mexico via those three airports, 46.5 percent more than in 2021 and 8.2 percent more than in 2019.
The Cancun airport was the one welcoming the most international visitors with 9.5 million, 47.7 percent more than arrived there in 2021.
EFE –/bp
