For this summer vacation period, it is anticipated that four out of 10 middle- and lower-middle-income families will make a trip. Of that amount, 70 percent will visit a national destination, confirm data from the Center for Tourism Competitiveness and Research (Cicotur).
Middle-income walkers have a great weight in the recovery of national tourism, as the sector is going through a moment of slowdown and a lower arrival of international tourists as a result of the opening of places that are classified as global attractions, experts say.
Beach destinations such as Acapulco, Veracruz or some places in Oaxaca, as well as magical towns or cities that are not traditionally visited by foreign travelers become the main alternative for these families to go out.
For this vacation period, 40 percent of middle-income households are going to make a trip, and that helps the recovery of the national tourism sector. Today we are also seeing that there are middle-income families who choose destinations like Quintana Roo, since they find various payment alternatives
says Francisco Madrid, director of Cicotur.
In an interview, he details that the preferred destinations for middle-income travelers for this summer vacation period are, in that order: Cancun, Acapulco, Veracruz, Puerto Vallarta, and Oaxaca.
In order to travel to these places, according to Cicotur, middle-income families travel, most of them, in their cars, followed by transportation by air as well as by bus.
For their part, medium/low income households have as their main option to make their trips by bus, their own cars and finally air transport.
the cost of vacation
Given the different options, this medium carried out an exercise to estimate costs for a family of four members –two adults and two minors– that goes to the beach or to a different destination, such as a magical town near the country’s capital.
For example, to travel to Acapulco, in a hotel that is not luxury (4 stars), with an ocean view for a period of three nights, the cost is 3,199 pesos; per day, food costs between 1,500 and 2,000 pesos; A tank of gasoline one way and another one back cost approximately 1,400 pesos and the booths 939 pesos, so the total is 12,500 pesos.
To a magical town, like Real Del Monte, in Hidalgo, the cost for the same number of nights is 2,500 pesos; Food can cost a thousand pesos per day, the cost of the gasoline tanks is the same, 1,400 pesos, but the booths drop to 250 pesos, so the final cost is 7,500 pesos on average.
Superweight, double-edged
Francisco Madrid also mentioned that the fact that the exchange rate is at historically low levels can be a double-edged sword, since this can trigger more people to travel abroad and local tourism to lag behind.
There are many people who can see the appreciation of the peso as a unique opportunity to travel abroad. For this summer we anticipate that Mexican flights abroad will exceed 600,000 passengers, a record number.
Madrid specified.
Cicotur anticipates that 30 percent of middle-income households will leave the country.