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Strong growth in travel to Mexico

Thursday, September 4, 2014


 

Tourism is trending up in Mexico, which in the first half of this year reached a record high in both the number of visitors and revenue.

A growing number of visitors has at the same time created a need for a new Mexico City airport.

In terms of visits, from January to June of this year, more than 14 million tourists came to Mexico, 11 percent more than in the same period last year, while spending $8.4 billion.

With increased traffic in tourism as well as in domestic demand, President Enrique Peña in his second state of the nation address on September 1, confirmed the commitment of his administration to the development of a new airport in Mexico City, with an investment estimated at $9 billion.

British architect Norman Foster, along with Fernando Romero, a son-in-law of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, have won a contract to design and build the new terminal, according to reports published this week.

Located in the east side of the capital, the new airport will have six runways, and will be able to handle some 120 million passengers a year, four times the capacity of Benito Juarez International.

With a completion date of 2019, the new airport will be the largest in Latin America and a hub for the region, according to officials.

In its August update on security, the State Department of the United States maintained its travel warning to Mexico, citing threats to safety from organizations involved in drug trafficking and other illegal operations.

On the other hand, both the Federal District and Guadalajara are considered safe, as are most areas, where tourism is a major commercial activity.