Direct flights key to Mexico City tourism, says Minister

Mexico City’s increasing arrivals and airlift was in the spotlight this week, as the destination’s Minister of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marques paid a visit to Toronto to meet with the Canadian travel trade.

Marques, along with the Mexico Tourism Board and Mexico Consul General Porfirio Theirry Munoz-Ledo, welcomed a small group of trade representatives to a lunch event hosted at Toronto’s Park Hyatt hotel.

The event also served as a farewell to Rodrigo Esponda, the Mexico Tourism Board’s regional director for North America, who is departing from the role this month to pursue other opportunities. Esponda has been a familiar face to the industry in Canada, representing the MTB at various travel events and functions across the country since 2011.

Key to Mexico City’s growth as a tourist destination is the increase of direct connections from major urban centres, said Marques, highlighting the new service by Aeromexico from both Toronto and Vancouver, just two of 20 non-stop flights to the destination established over the last three years and which has helped increase Canadian arrivals to the city by 36 per cent over the first half of 2016; last year, 111,000 Canadians came to Mexico City, the minister said.

Rodrigo Esponda, the Mexico Tourism Board’s regional director for North America, is finishing his term with the board later this month.

Arrivals to Mexico City will only continue to increase, Marques said, as Aeromexico launches a new flight from Austin, Texas in November and a new linkage to Tokyo-Narita Airport via All Nippon Airways, which will see up to four weekly flights from Japan, gets underway in January.

This influx of new flights has helped increase total international arrivals by 16.8 per cent over the past two years, with 13 million global visitors to Mexico City recorded in 2015. However, Marques explained the figure does not account for visitors who stay with family or private accommodations (such as those listed via services like Airbnb), a market estimated at 17 million visitors annually who spend approximately $1.5 billion.

“We are now the most visited city in Mexico, as well as Central and South America,” Marques stated.

For Canadian travelers, Marques explained that the city’s reputation as a cultural centre is a major draw, boasting nine important archaeological sites from the Aztec era, along with four UNESCO World Heritage Sites showcasing more recent cultural achievements.

“For Canadians, they love our culture,” Marques said. “It’s not just about beaches and great weather.”