Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages are luring travelers back to Mexico’s top vacation spot (Cancun) for spring break, which is rebounding from last spring’s precipitous drop in visitors as a result to the Mexico’s swine flu epidemic, drug violence, and the global recession.

Foreign tourism in Mexico dropped 15% in ’09, a decline of $2 billion. One million fewer travelers visited Cancun in ’09 than in prior years.

Things are looking up this spring, with 85 percent of Cancun’s 28,000 rooms filled in February. This occupancy rate is expected to be even higher in March which is typically the top spring break month.

25,000 college students are expected to check out Cancun’s rebuilt beaches during spring break vs. 20,000 students last year. This is in addition to tourists who visit throughout the year.

$80 million have been spent rebuilding Cancun’s world famous powdery white beaches that have been suffering from erosion. This project took a year to complete and included building an artificial reef to help keep the sandy beaches in place.

Cancun is not the only popular Mexico tourist destination. Cities across the country are witnessing a return of tourists, even though there is an ongoing U.S. travel alert advising Americans to stay away from certain areas of Mexico, particularly in the northern Border States, because of ongoing drug violence.

U.S. travel experts continue to see Mexico as a good bargain vacation spot, which is relatively easy to get to and affordable.