Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is home to some of the most famous holiday beach destinations worldwide. In 2018, the city of Cancún was ranked as the most popular tourist destination in Latin America based on the quantity of foreign tourists it hosts every year, and it was also among the cities with the largest international visitor spending. By 2019, international arrivals in Cancún could have exceeded the 6.1 million. The Riviera Maya, a coastline region to the Caribbean Sea encompassing the cities of Playa del Carmen and Tulum, is also among the most sought-after tourist destinations in Mexico.
Mexico City, the country’s capital and once the center of the Aztec empire under the name of Tenochtitlan, is also one of the main touristic hubs in Mexico. The city registered around 25 million air passenger arrivals in 2019 and its offer of touristic services, with more than 50 thousand hotel rooms, is one of the largest in the country. In 2019, international air passenger arrivals in Mexico City reached the largest number since 2016.
Resorts with all-inclusive buffets and amenities draw tourists to Mexico, particularly those interested in luxurious experiences. In 2019, vehicles devoted to luxury tourism accounted for over 33 percent of the whole touristic automobile fleet. Nonetheless, the country is also heavily visited by budget tourists, for instance, young travelers backpacking across Latin America. Although not the cheapest city in Mexico, Mexico City was considered one of the ten most affordable places to backpack that same year.
When it comes to booking accommodation in Mexico, Airbnb has gained popularity among travelers. The home rentals website has also become a convenient option for Mexican residents to increase their earnings. In fact, most Airbnb hosts in Mexico said they used the platform to have an additional income, while about half of them used the money to pay and maintain their homes. Moreover, half of the guests surveyed said they spent the extra money they saved by staying in Airbnb rentals on the local businesses of the communities they visited.
