Although cultural tourism in Mexico grew by 3.8% annually between January and September of this year, the number of visitors to archaeological sites decreased by 14.4%, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.
Added to this drop is a 0.4% reduction in the number of international tourists visiting these archaeological sites, resulting in a total contraction of 9.5% in the influx of people to these places.
The National Tourism Business Council (CNET) points out that the reasons behind this decrease are diverse, but mainly highlight the lack of promotion of these destinations and the insecurity that affects some regions of the country.
For its part, the Center for Advanced Research in Sustainable Tourism of the Universidad Anáhuac (Starc) mentioned that the lower international visibility of Mexico has contributed to a decrease in the number of foreign tourists.
However, this decline in visits to archaeological sites was offset by an increase in the number of Mexicans who chose to visit national museums. Between January and September 2024, museums recorded 21.3% more national visitors and 14.6% more foreign visitors, resulting in an overall growth of 20.5% in attendance.
The five archaeological sites that received the highest number of tourists during the first nine months of the year were Chichén Itzá, Teotihuacán, Tulum, Monte Albán, and El Tajín, with a total of 4.3 million visitors, representing almost 60% of the total flow of tourists to archaeological sites in Mexico.
As for museums, the most visited were the National Museum of History, the National Museum of Anthropology, the Templo Mayor, the National Museum of Cultures, and the San Juan Ulúa Fort, with a total of 5.4 million visitors, which constitutes 74.1% of the total number of people who visited museums in the country.
According to the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur), cultural tourism is defined as travel motivated by the desire to know and understand the distinctive elements, both material and spiritual, that characterize a society or social group.
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