Mexico´s Tourism Fared Well in 2004

The Mexican travel industry snared 9,679,000 million foreign visitors in 2004, some 220,000 more tourists than the previous year for a solid 14 percent increase.

In a case-by-case breakdown made by the country´s Tourism Department, ground border checkpoints logged little more than 8 million foreign trippers, up 9.4 percent from 2003, while 10.2 million nationals drove in and out of Mexico in the course of the entire year for an 11.2 percent upturn.

The cash surplus of Mexico´s travel industry scored a big increase in 2004, up a whopping 20.8 percent from 2003.

Until last August, as many as 13.6 million foreign tourists had visited Mexico, a double-digits spike compared to the first eight months of 2003.

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, the Tourism Department said.