Puerto Vallarta Rentals Blog

Mexico’s Tourism Board (SECTUR) announced that nearly 190 million tourists enjoyed the wide diversity of attractions of our country in 2011. That number breaks the previous record of 185.7 million registered in 2008.

This way the year of tourism, as 2011 was declared by President Felipe Calderón, can be regarded as a complete success; leaving behind the difficult years of 2009 and 2010, when different factors combined to create a ‘perfect storm’ crisis in the industry.

The 190 million of tourists in 2011 represents a growth of 3.7% in comparison to 2010 and a 10.6% in comparison to 2009.

Regarding international tourism, 2011 was also a historic year with a record number of 22.67 million of international tourists.

But maybe the best news is the fact that even when the number of American visitors to Mexico was down 4%, the overall number keeps steadily growing. This tendency is a consequence of SECTUR’s efforts to diversify our markets.

2011 registered an important increment on visitors from Brazil (66%), Russia (55%), Peru (37%) and China (30%). These numbers bring hope that when the American economy recovers from the present recession, the overall numbers of the tourism industry will grow even more, as the United States is Mexico’s most important market.

This is great news for the Mexican tourism industry that has the goal to become one of the top five tourism markets in the world by 2018.