Mexican tourism holds megabuck investment stockpile

The future of Mexico´s tourism is shining brighter than ever after having piled up a walloping $44 billion worth of investment in the last four decades, said John McCarthy, head of the National Tourism Promotion Fund (FONATUR).

Mr. McCarthy uttered those remarks in a meeting at the Center for Economic Studies of the Private Sector (CEESP is the acronym in Spanish) as he pointed out Mexico is the leading country in Latin America and the eighth in the world as far as tourist reception is concerned. Another milestone achieved by the Aztec nation is the tenth spot overall in terms of hard-currency revenues. In the first third of the year, Mexico´s trade balance has been steadily tipping to the black numbers with over $1.4 billion now socked away in its coffers.

In 2002, Mexico welcomed 19.7 million foreign visitors who spent way over $8.8 billion in the country. Official estimates for the ongoing year put that figure in the neighborhood of $9 billion.

Mr. McCarthy also referred to the great potentials of the local leisure industry. "They´re twice as much attractive and solid as they were three or four decades ago when that market finally took off," he said. Local tourism churned out profits for $62 million this year.

Mexico holds a strong fifth place worldwide in attraction diversity as the nation counts on beaches, great cultural wealth and a privileged geographical position next to the United States.

Mr. McCarthy indicated that FONATUR has plans in the offing for this year to pour some $72 million into a number of activities aimed at luring foreign travelers.

He made clear that the U.S. economic recession, international terrorism, the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak have shrunk the leisure industry dramatically. Experts believe the sector will be up and around in the future, though.