Mexico’s Travel Industry Shattered All Records in 2003

Mexico’s tourism sector set a new record high in 2003 with $9.5 billion worth of revenues, up a 6.8 percent hike from the year before, the country’s Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo pointed out.

With these figures in the bag, Mexico jumped from number 13 to the tenth spot among the world’s biggest foreign tourist receivers, Mr. Elizondo went on to explain.

The high-ranking Mexican official also noted the country held on tight to the number eight spot in international arrivals with 18.6 million vacationers.

At the same time, the travel balance logged a $3.2 billion surplus by the end of 2003 for a walloping 14.5 percent spike from 2002.

All through last year, the volume of private investment in the local travel industry peaked $1.7 billion for a 12.2 percent increase, compared to the numbers posted the year before, and broken down in 79 percent of national investors and the remaining 21 percent of foreign businesspeople.