Mexico’s Tourism Boom: More Visitors, Less Money

The positive news of increased tourist arrivals this year is overshadowed by the fact that the tourism that has grown generates the least economic spillover.

A phrase attributed to Albert Einstein could well apply to Mexico’s tourism sector: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”

The record-breaking growth figures for visitor arrivals touted by the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) may seem like good news, but they are not directly proportional to economic revenue.

Breaking it down, there was indeed an increase of almost 14% in tourist arrivals between January and September, totaling 71 million travelers. However, not all tourists are equal. Visitors are categorized into four groups: those arriving by air, by land, border visitors, and cruise ship passengers.

“If we look closely at the statistics, approximately half of the international visitors arrived by air, and these are the ones who actually consume and generate both investment and employment,” explained Gonzalo del Peón, co-founder and president of AMRESORTS, Group President for Hyatt Inclusive Collection Americas, vice president of the National Association of Hotel Chains, and a member of the National Tourism Council of Mexico (CNET).

Disaggregating the type of visitor is crucial because it resembles the Pareto principle: 81.2% of the country’s tourism income comes from “air” tourism, while border tourism contributes only 6.2%, and cruise ship tourists represent just 2.6% of the sector’s revenue.

The data becomes clearer and more revealing when viewed as spending per tourist. While a visitor arriving by air leaves an average of $1,178, land tourism has an economic spillover of $343, border tourism $108, and cruise tourism $83.

The situation becomes concerning because the growth in tourist numbers was driven by those who spend the least: border visitors (+19.3%) and cruise passengers (+8.2%). Meanwhile, visitors arriving by air have decreased by 2.3% compared to last year. Looking exclusively at the statistics for Mexico’s three ‘golden’ tourism destinations reveals an even greater gap: in Cancún, the number of tourists has fallen by 4.5% versus 2024; in Puerto Vallarta, the decline is 4.9%; and only Los Cabos shows a positive figure, with tourist influx this year 0.4% higher than last year.

Currently, the private sector’s major concern is that the demand for air visitors is not growing at the same pace as the supply of rooms in the country’s most important leisure destinations.

To put this in context, in the Cancún/Riviera Maya area, hotel supply grew by 4% in the last year, equivalent to nearly 5,000 new hotel rooms—more rooms than the entire history of Huatulco.

To maintain the same occupancy rate with these thousands of new rooms, approximately 345,000 additional international visitors would be required. In other words, the Riviera Maya would need to grow its visitor numbers by at least 3.5%, while currently, it is declining by 4.5%.

One of the side effects already being felt in the sector is the need to lower rates, adjust expenses, and reduce staff.

“There is a lack of promotion budget and a federal entity to coordinate campaigns at the country level, aligning the campaigns of different tourist destinations,” added del Peón.

The challenge is not just to increase the number of visitors but to leverage and bolster growth in the niche that contributes 8 out of every 10 dollars entering the country with a suitcase in hand.