The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) announced that Mexico's global air connectivity has grown with the addition of 1.5 million seats on direct flights to Mexico in 2018. The increase in air connectivity is expected to result in nearly 30 million seats by the end of the year to accommodate travel demand to Mexico's top tourist destinations, according to the MTB. Mexico welcomed 10.6 million tourists in the first quarter of 2018, a record-breaking number representing a 12.6 percent increase compared to the 9.4 million documented international visitor arrivals during the same period in 2017.
Mexico is now the sixth-most visited country in the world with 39.3 million international visitors in 2017, of which 18.6 million traveled by air. Tourism revenue also grew by 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2018 over the same period in 2017, reaching $6.2 billion. Mexico's commitment to increasing air connectivity to match consumer demand has led to investments in developing partnerships with airlines, hotels, and the tourism industry, diversifying tourism products, and promoting new and established destinations.
As part of its connectivity strategy, Mexico is aiming to strengthen its tourism source market diversification, increasing the number of tourist arrivals from China, Japan, South Korea, the Middle East and India. Several new routes like Hainan Airlines’ first-ever service from Beijing to Mexico City via Tijuana and Emirates Airlines' service between Dubai and Mexico City via Barcelona will make Mexico more accessible to travelers across the globe.
Mexico has a host of new air routes, including:
North America
- Boston to Mexico City
- Calgary to Mexico City
- Chicago to Guadalajara
- Chicago to León
- Detroit to León
- New York to Mexico City
- Philadelphia to Mexico City
- Sacramento to Los Cabos
- Salt Lake City to Guadalajara
- San Diego to Puerto Vallarta
- San Francisco to Cancún
- San Francisco to Guadalajara
- San Jose to Los Cabos
- Vancouver to Mexico City
Europe
- Helsinki, Finland to Puerto Vallarta
Asia & the Middle East
- Beijing to Mexico City via Tijuana
- Dubai to Mexico City via Barcelona
The introduction of the 16 new direct routes in Mexico will contribute to the 1.5 million new seats on direct flights. Mexico's domestic carriers accounted for over half of the capacity increases, led by:
- VivaAerobus, 318.2 percent increase
- Interjet, 19.8 percent increase
- Aeromexico, 7.4 percent increase
International carriers from North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia, added to the growth in seats, including:
- Eurowings, 107 percent increase
- Edelweiss Air, 79.7 percent increase
- Air Canada, 22.1 percent increase
- Spirit Airlines, 21.4 percent increase
- WestJet, 19.6 percent increase
- JetBlue Airways, 16 percent increase
- Thomas Cook Airlines, 14.8 percent increase
- Iberia, 11.5 percent increase
- Avianca, 9.7 percent increase
- Air Transat, 8.8 percent increase
- Aerolíneas Argentinas, 8.4 percent increase
- LATAM Airlines, 7.8 percent increase
- Air France, 6.2 percent increase
- Alaska Airlines, 4.6 percent increase
- Copa Airlines, 3.8 percentincrease
For more information, visit www.visitmexico.com.
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