Employment in tourism sector breaks previous pre-pandemic record

According to the latest employment statistics, Mexico’s tourism sector has seen impressive job growth since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the global travel industry in 2020. 

The Tourism Ministry (Sectur) reported this week that 4,831,000 people held jobs in the tourism sector during the first quarter of 2024: a 7.7% increase over the then-record number of people employed in tourism during the first quarter of 2020. This figure represents 9% of all employment in Mexico during the first three months of the year, Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco Marqués noted.

In real numbers, 344,009 more people were employed in the tourism sector during the first three months of this year than were in January-March 2020.

The increase in tourism-industry jobs comes in the context of a steady post-pandemic rebound of international travel to Mexico. More than 42 million international tourists visited Mexico in 2023, a 10% increase over the number of international travelers who arrived in the country in 2022.

The national statistics agency (INEGI) reported earlier this month that 4.1 million international tourists visited the country in March, up 10.6% over the same month last year.

Sectur also reported that there was 0.6% quarter-over-quarter job growth in Mexico’s tourism sector over the fourth quarter of 2023. 

In annual terms, the jobs in the tourism sector in Q1 2024 grew 3.3% — or 153,333 additional jobs — over the first quarter of 2023.

With reports from Forbes