Foreign exchange income from international visitors in January and February 2023 was 5 billion 422 million dollars, 32.4% more compared to the same period in 2022, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) reported on Wednesday.
The figure also exceeds by 19.9% what was captured in the first two months of 2019, before the pandemic, a total of 4 thousand 523 million dollars.
The head of Sectur, Miguel Torruco Marqués, highlighted that, based on the results of the International Travelers Survey published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), last January and February 6 million 489 thousand tourists entered the country, which represents 23.2% more than what was captured in January and February of 2022 and only 5.4% away from reaching the 6 million 860 thousand international tourists that entered during the same period in the first two months of 2019.
He indicated that foreign exchange income from international tourists in January and February 2023 was 5 billion 60 million dollars, which represents 30.7% more compared to the first two months of 2022; also surpassing 21.9% the foreign exchange of the same period of 2019, which was 4 billion 152 million dollars.
He pointed out that the average expenditure of international tourists in the January-February 2023 period was 779.8 dollars, which means 6.1% more compared to the first two months of 2022, also surpassing 28.8% the 605.2 dollars registered in the same period of 2019.
Torruco Marqués informed that in the first two months of 2023, 3 million 824 thousand inbound tourists arrived in Mexico via air, this represents 24.4% more compared to the same period of 2022, also surpassing 9.6% the inbound tourists via air captured in January-February 2019, which were 3 million 490 thousand tourists.
He commented that foreign exchange income from inbound tourists via air between January and February 2023 had an increase of 29.5% against the first two months of 2022, registering 4 billion 639 million dollars, which also represents an increase of 23.7% concerning the 3 billion 750 million dollars captured in the first two months of 2019.
He pointed out that the average expenditure of inbound tourists via air during January-February 2023 registered 1,213.1 dollars, a growth of 4.2% compared to the same period of 2022, and exceeding by 12.9% the average expenditure of 1,74.5 dollars, recorded in the first two months of 2019.
The Secretary of Tourism emphasized that, between January and February 2023, 12 million 108 thousand international visitors entered the country, a growth of 30.9% compared to the first two months of 2022, a level that is only 22.3% away from reaching the international visitor arrivals of the same period of 2019, when 15 million 586 thousand international visitors arrived.