Travel up in Mexico

International travel to Mexico reached record levels last year, and the country is launching a $40 campaign million to promote itself to US visitors. The effort will stress Mexico’s friendliness towards Americans with the slogan: ”Mexico, closer than ever.” Statistics from Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism reported it generated more than $9.4 billion in revenues last year, a historic annual high that was a 6.8% increase over 2002. That put Mexico in tenth place worldwide in tourism revenues. “These figures demonstrate that Mexico’s diversity in tourism offerings and efforts at targeting specific segments are paying off,“ said Francisco Ortiz, CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board, which promotes travel. Mexican tourism officials also say that while it’s often unrecognized, that country has become the world’s top cruise destination. Almost 6 million passengers disembarked last year, or up from 4.5 million the year before. Last year, more than 1200 shops docked at the island of Cozumel, which is only one of Mexico’s two dozen port cities. Report by David Wilkening