Mexico to Welcome One Million European Tourists in 2010

The arrival of European travelers in Mexico will double over the next five years to round out a million sunbathers from the Old World in 2010, a group of French professionals revealed this week.

Cesar Balderacchi, president of the mighty French Trade Union of Travel Agents (SNAV is the French acronym), warned that growth could be even bigger if international airlines make more flights to Mexico.

”In the case of Mexico, we need more flights to Mexico City and a couple of daily flights to Paris, not to mention more air connections from there to other travel destinations in Latin America,” Mr. Balderacchi pointed out.

At the same time, he added the price of domestic flights in Mexico is way too high and called on carriers to increase the availability of nonstop flights between European cities and Mexican beach destinations. “Let’s say a Paris-Merida (Yucatan) connection could be a pretty good case in point,” he said.

Mr. Balderacchi noted that Cuba and the Dominican Republic continue taking the lion’s share of French and European tourists that travel to the Caribbean.

SNAV members huddled in the state of Yucatan (southeastern Mexico) for their most recent annual meeting.