Mexico: more than 10 million foreign tourists in the first half of 2023

10-08-23

Mexico's Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marqués, has released figures for foreign tourist arrivals by air during the first half of the year, revealing that 2023 is proving to be a great year for the Central American country's tourism industry. 

In the first half of 2023, 10 million 843 thousand international tourists have visited Mexico by air, reflecting a growth of 5.7% compared to the figures for the same period in 2022. 

Likewise, and as derived from information from the Migratory Policy Unit-Registration and Identity of Persons of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), it also exceeds the arrivals recorded during the period January-June 2019, with 7.2%, when 10 million 117 thousand international tourists were registered. This shows that the tourism recovery after the pandemic is already more than consolidated. 

USA, Colombia and Canada, main source markets

The largest volume of air arrivals during the first six months of 2023 is represented by these three countries, which together account for 8 million 330 thousand tourists - up 5% compared to the same period in 2022 and 13.9% compared to 2019 - representing 76.8% of total arrivals. 

Particularly noteworthy is the arrival of US tourists, the main market for the Central American country. Up to 6 million 583 thousand tourists from the United States visited Mexico by air during the aforementioned period, which while representing 1.1% less than in 2022, means 17.7% more than in 2019. 

As for tourists from its northern neighbour, Canada, the figure is 1,385,000 visitors, a figure that differs greatly from the 859,580 tourists who arrived in the same period in 2022 - 61.1% more. However, the figure is 4.2% lower than those captured in 2019. 

The Top-3 issuing markets are completed by Colombia, from where 361,535 tourists departed by air during the first six months of 2023 - 30.6% more than in 2019 -. From the rest of the countries, two million 514 thousand tourists departed for the Aztec country, representing an increase of 7.9% compared to January-June 2022 and a market share of 23.2%.

The Secretary of Tourism also reported on the figures for air arrivals by airport. The figures for Cancún International Airport, Mexico City International Airport and Los Cabos International Airport, which have received up to 8 million 75 thousand tourists during the first half of the year, stand out above all others. 

These figures represent an increase over both the figures for the first six months of 2022 - up 1.9% - and 2019 - up 4.4% -. The same increase was experienced by the rest of the airports, which together received two million 769 thousand international tourists, a level 18.3% higher than the arrivals of the first six months of 2022. 

Of all of them, Cancun International Airport welcomed the most international tourists, with 4 million 835 thousand tourists, 0.2% more than in the first six months of 2022.