Mexico Reaped Bigger Profits, More Tourists in 2004

At a time when wintertime vacations haven’t begun yet and strategies have not been completely assessed, Mexico’s Tourism Promotion Council revealed some figures that paint a pretty accurate picture of how revenues and foreign arrivals have fared so far this year.

By the end of 2004, Mexican tourism authorities expect to close the twelve-month period with flying colors: 20.5 million visitors and $10.6 billion worth of gains.

Mexico’s leisure sector scooped up nearly $8 billion in revenues in the first three quarters of the ongoing year, up a blistering 13.4 percent from the first nine months of 2003, the country’s Tourism Department informed this week.

The cash surplus of Mexico’s travel industry scored a big increase in the first nine months of the ongoing year, up a whopping 20.8 percent from the same span of time in 2003.

During that period, the country reaped over $2.8 billion in profits, thanks in part to a 13.3 percent climb in tourist benefits that totaled more than $7.3 billion.

Until August this year, as many as 13.6 million foreign tourists had visited Mexico, a double-digits spike compared to the first eight months of last year.

In the same breath, gains churned out by the leisure industry were way above $3 billion in 2003, an amount of cash that plays a major role in Mexico City’s economy, said Carlos McKinley, director-general of the Institute of Tourism Promotion.

The Aztec nation’s capital accommodates some 10 million sunbathers every year in its more than 47,000 hotel rooms. Roughly 40 percent of those visitors are business travelers, Mr. McKinley pointed out.