beyondbrics

Who’s afraid of Mexico’s drugs war? Not foreign tourists, it would seem: just weeks after the centre-right administration of President Felipe Calderón confirmed that drug-related violence had claimed almost 13,000 lives to September last year, it turns out that more foreign tourists visited Mexico than ever before.

According to figures published Thursday by the tourism ministry, 1,072,180 foreign tourists descended on the country in December – 13 per cent more than during December 2010, and the highest figure ever recorded for that month.

Mexico has now registered five straight months of year-on-year growth, and its tourism sector has never been stronger. If accurate, the overall figures show that the fall in tourism in 2009 was mainly the result of the US financial crisis and the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, rather than because of security concerns stemming from the country’s drugs war.

The government has gone out of its way to remind would-be visitors that reports of violent crime, including beheadings and gun battles in broad daylight, are concentrated in just a handful of areas. For the most part, it insists, Mexico is a peaceful and pleasant place to visit.

And it has reinforced that idea with an aggressive advertising campaign in North America as well as Europe to attract more people to spend their vacations in one of Mexico’s many tourist destinations.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, more than half the December number was made up of visitors from the US. That represents an increase of about 11 per cent over 2010, and 9 per cent over 2008.

But the figures also show that the ministry has been working hard to attract tourism from non-traditional countries, such as China and Russia, where the number of visitors in December increased about 50 per cent year-on-year in each case, according to the ministry.

Those gains are thanks to behind-the-scenes efforts by the ministry as it works with tour operators and travel agents in those countries to promote Mexico while streamlining formerly cumbersome and slow visa-application procedures and working to ensure that non-traditional visitors can use their plastic charge cards in ATMs and businesses throughout the country.

A year or so ago, the government said that its aim was to place Mexico in the top five tourist destinations by 2018 from 10th at present. At this rate, it may well meet that goal.

Related reading:
Mexico: adventure tours for “gringos”, beyondbrics
Mexico: courting the BRIC tourists, beyondbrics
Mexico tourism: sun still shining, beyondbrics
Violence-free vacations: Mexico unveils new route back from tourism slump, beyondbrics
Aggressive push to promote country’s multifaceted allure, FT
Boom times despite safety fears, FT