• HISTORIC: Amid the coronavirus shock, Mexico witnessed an unprecedented 72.4% decline in foreign tourism in April when compared to the same month a year ago, according to data released by Mexico’s statistics agency (INEGI). This is the sharpest drop on records that go back to 1980.
• PLUNGE: Despite Mexico not closing down its air border and with limited controls via land, foreign tourism to Mexico plunged to 2.2 million in April. Moreover, the vast majority of these foreign visitors arrived through the US-Mexico border (96%) despite a partial closure to non-essential travel.
• MASSIVE: The new data also show a massive 98.1% drop in international air visitors to Mexico in April. With Mexico enacting a health emergency on March 30th, the absolute number of international air visitors in April was 31,000 while the number of cruise passenger arrivals was zero.
• YEARS: “It will have to pass this year and next year so that with a lot of effort (tourism levels to Mexico) can be more regularized in 2023”, said Miguel Torruco, the Mexican Tourism Minister, in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE last month.
