Nearly 22 million foreign tourists visited Mexico in 2005, 6.5 percent more than in 2004, the Tourism Department said Saturday. The visitors spent a total of $11.8 billion in Mexico, the department said in a news release.
The rise in tourists came in spite of three ferocious hurricanes that hit last year.
Kos, Napier, Santo Tomas, Sarande, Sihanoukville and Valdivia all have things in common. These very uncommon places are all new destinations that Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) companies have added to the nearly 2,000 ports they visit each year. CLIA´s member cruise lines continually seek out new ports of call to ensure that itineraries are fresh and new - and even more importantly, offer something for everyone.
Regardless of the destination –be it Asia, Alaska, the Caribbean or Europe- cruise vacations enable travelers to explore exotic cultures and landscapes around the globe, all the while returning to Western-style comforts and conveniences aboard passenger-pleasing ships.
Changes in the global economy will have the biggest impact on business travelers in the next decade, according to new research out from Barclaycard Business.
The research reveals that long haul air and rail services will see the most growth with business travel to global destinations expected to increase. Distance traveled per month will increase to approximately 700 miles per person, compared to 609 miles currently. In addition business people will on average spend an extra night away from home each month, up from 4.1 nights in 2005/6 to 5.2 nights in 2015.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released full-year traffic results for 2005 showing that international passenger traffic grew by 7.6 percent in 2005.
“The industry is returning to a more normal growth pattern after the shocks that began in 2001. Passenger traffic is lower than the 15.3 percent increase recorded in 2004, but above the historical growth of 6 percent,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA´s Director General and CEO.
Aruba is moving forward with exciting tourism plans for 2006. The small island continues to be recognized as a popular vacation destination, enjoying a reputation for offering a quality product with a high level of safety and security for visitors, according to Jorge Pesquera, President and CEO of the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association.
Last year, the island in the heart of the southern Caribbean, 15 miles off the coast of South America, reported arrivals of 453,875 guests from January to July, 2005. This reflects a 2.4 percent increase over the summer, a 10 percent rise in the winter or an overall spike of 6.8 percent from year previous. Yearly, Aruba welcomes around 750,000 overnight visitors from all over the world.
Multi-destination tourism is conceived as a potentially effective and profitable way of expanding and deepening economic activity in more than one community through the expansion of the population of those communities by short stay persons who are on a single trip, and who have a disposition for expenditure on services that provide value.
Two of the basic requirements for facilitating multi-destination tourism in the region are the consistently reliable and reasonably priced intra-regional airline services and the efficient and customer service oriented facilities at ports of entry.