Mérida, Yucatán — State officials will invest 12 million pesos this year to promote the state in the United States, Canada and Italy, where direct flights to Milan were recently inaugurated.
The Secretary of Tourism Promotion, Ancona Saul Salazar, said that this year 20 million pesos was spent on tourism promotion at the national and state level, resulting in 4.9 growth in the sector.
From January to May this year, the economic benefit from tourism in the state is over 900 million pesos.
Tourists spends an average of 3,000 pesos a day between lodging, local transportation, tours, restaurants and souvenirs, slightly less than last year, a fact attributed to inflation.
From January through May 2015, the state welcomed 15,623 overnight tourists; 78.8% of domestic origin and 21.2% of international origin. That represents an increase of 9.3% over 2014.
The challenge remains for the state to increase hotel occupancy and the length of time tourists remain.
Source: Press release
