by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:50 AM ET, Tue May 3, 2022
Tourism officials in Mexico announced the country saw a surge in international visitor numbers during the first quarter.
According to Mexico News Daily, Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco said 5.02 million international tourists arrived by commercial airlines between January and March, an increase of 138.5 percent compared to the same period in 2021.
The first-quarter totals were just seven percent below the number of arrivals in the first three months of 2019.
Of the 5.02 million travelers who arrived in Mexico so far this year, 3.88 million-77 percent of the total-came from three countries; Canada, Colombia and the United States.
Around 3.18 million Americans flew south of the border in the first quarter, an increase of 101.2 percent compared to 2021. The number of U.S. tourists was 14.1 percent higher than the same period in 2019.
Canada lifting travel restrictions also helped Mexico's tourism numbers, as almost 511,000 Canadians flew to the country in the first three months of the year, a 1,446 percent increase over the first quarter of last year.
As for where travelers are arriving, Torruco reported that 3.82 million of the international visitors entered Mexico via airports in Cancun, Mexico City and Los Cabos. The three facilities welcomed 76 percent of the total number of arrivals in Mexico during the first quarter.
The Mexican Caribbean's normally white-sand beaches are once again littered with brown sargassum, as authorities are raising concerns about the heaps of the algae that are now plaguing the region's pristine beaches.
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