Mexico Rakes In Big Bucks Out Of Tourism

Mexico’s Tourism Department recently informed the country reaped $9.3 billion out of nearly 19 million tourists who visited the Aztec nation all through 2003.

The figure accounts for a new all-time high and a 2 percent overall increase in hotel occupancy rates from 2002.

During last year’s high-peak season (stretching from December 23 to January 5), both Cancun and the Mayan Riviera put the best numbers on the board with a blistering 93 percent occupancy rate.

The also-rans were Manzanillo (92 percent), Nuevo Vallarta (87 percent), Veracruz (78 percent), and Acapulco, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and Taxco (71 percent each).

The Tourism Department also highlighted an 11 percent upsurge in Mazatlan’s hotel occupancy rates during the last week of 2003.