The Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) estimates a flow of 6,776,000 cruise passengers in Mexico for this year, more than four times higher than what was served in 2021, and with which it would recover almost 75% of the volume of travelers it had in 2019, when the country received a historic flow of 9 million tourists.
Similarly, the income of foreign currency by cruise passengers is expected to be 480.4 million dollars (mdd), which represents 286.2% more than in 2021, and with which the country would be 23.3% away from obtaining the 626 million dollars registered in 2019.
In addition, this year it is estimated that 2,313 cruise ships will arrive at the ports, 177.7% more than the 883 in 2021, and only 21.6% below the 2,951 cruise ships that arrived in 2019.
“A recovery in the number of average cruise passengers is expected during 2022, with 2,929 passengers per arrival, being only 3.2% away from reaching the 3,025 passengers per arrival that arrived in 2019,” said the secretary of tourism, Miguel Torruco, quoted in a release.
“In 2021, some of the cruise ship arrivals operated with restrictions derived from sanitary protocols, which led to an average of 1,785 passengers for each arrival,” he added.
The cruise segment was practically the last one that managed to reactivate since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After 14 months without operating in the country, the ships began to gradually return from July last year to Cozumel, in Quintana Roo, the largest cruise ship landing point in the country.
Although the cruise ships started with a series of protocols to avoid contagion on board, their operation has not been exempt from them. Proof of this occurred at the beginning of the year, when the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected infections on 63 cruise ships, of which more than 30 had itineraries that disembarked in Mexico. .
For this year, 85.6% of the total supply of arrivals is concentrated in five ports: Cozumel, with 962 arrivals (41.6% of the total); Mahahual, 386 arrivals (16.7%); Ensenada, 269 arrivals (11.6%); Cabo San Lucas, 241 arrivals (9.3%); and Puerto Vallarta, 149 arrivals (6.4%).
