Mexico
Tourists spent $13.3 Billion in Mexico in 2008
Foreign tourists spent $13.3 billion in Mexico last year, an increase of 3.4 percent compared with 2007.
Mexico had 22.6 million foreign tourists in 2008, a 5.9 percent gain from a year before, the tourism ministry said today in an e-mailed statement. The average amount spent by each tourist was $760.60.
Yesterday, the U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens that gun battles and kidnappings have become more frequent in Mexico, especially in border areas such as Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana. Border tourism increased 11 percent in 2008, the tourism ministry said.
In 2007, money spent by foreign visitors was Mexico’s third- largest source of foreign currency, after crude-oil exports and remittances. The country received $12.9 billion in tourism revenue that year.
Mexico’s peso declined 20.3 percent against the U.S. dollar in 2008, the third-worst-performing currency in Latin America.
Mexico may receive $9.35 billion of tourism investment in 2009, compared with $8.45 billion in the past two years combined, the National Tourism Development Fund said on Jan. 20.
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