Mexico ranks fourth worldwide for tourism’s direct contribution and leisure travel spending

Mexico has taken fourth place in two new global tourism rankings launched by the World Travel and Tourism Council in Cancún. Only the United States, China and Germany ranked higher in each measure.

The indicators track tourism’s direct economic contribution and spending on leisure and pleasure trips. They include money travelers spend directly, such as hotel bills and admission to parks. Gloria Guevara, the WTTC’s president and chief executive, said Mexico was the only Latin American country to appear in the first ranking. The council attributed $149 million in traveler spending to Mexico among the 10 largest economies.

Guevara said Mexico’s position showed that the country still had room to expand. She identified the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo as an important contributor to the fourth-place ranking for leisure travel spending, one reason the WTTC chose the resort region for the global announcement.

She described the rankings as an opportunity to attract more investment, support businesses, strengthen tourism promotion and maintain public policies aimed at sector growth. The new indicators will be monitored annually to track how economies and their tourism industries perform.

The council said global travel and tourism grew 4% last year, compared with 2.8% growth for the world economy. The sector generated $12.6 trillion worldwide and 366 million jobs, equal to one in nine jobs globally. Guevara said tourism accounted for one in three new jobs created across all industries over the past five years, citing Quintana Roo as an example of a destination that created employment and drew workers from other parts of Mexico.

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