Data by SiteMinder, the global hotel industry’s leading guest acquisition platform, reveals a steady recovery for Mexico’s accommodation industry, as the country surpasses 65 percent of its 2019 booking levels for the first time since mid-March.
SiteMinder’s World Hotel Index shows that hotel bookings in Mexico dropped to their lowest level on 29 April, at 10.88 percent of last year’s volumes, and have since risen by 543 percent to 69.9 percent.
The data highlights a unique situation in Mexico. While domestic tourism now contributes more than 67 percent of all hotel guest arrivals—up from 54 percent in August 2019—international travelers are contributing a relatively higher proportion than in other major tourist destinations around the world. International travelers are set to make up more than half of all hotel guest arrivals by October, compared with 20 percent in the United States and 22 percent in Chile.
“The steady rise of year-over-year hotel bookings in Mexico has been encouraging to watch over the last three months. It has been due, in part, to more local holidaymakers traveling within the country, but international business has also remained steady. Travelers from the U.S., for example, are still able to fly into the country for their summer vacations, in spite of ongoing land border restrictions, and so those opportunities for hoteliers haven’t been entirely lost,” says Jason Lugo, Senior Regional Manager of Latin America at SiteMinder.
In addition to international travel, the Mexican Government’s reactivation of domestic tourism has been welcome news for hoteliers, who can expect to be welcoming more locals over the next 18 months. SiteMinder’s recent Changing Traveler Report, based on the survey responses of nearly 570 locals in Mexico, has revealed that 45 percent will take their next domestic trip in 2021, while 43 percent intend to travel as quickly as this year.
Of the surveyed population, at least three-in-five are currently planning their next local holiday and, when it comes to choosing their accommodation provider, well-promoted health and safety practices are the top deciding factor for 63 percent.
