The incorporation of Mexico to the red list of the United Kingdom will force 6,000 Britons who are currently vacationing in the country to return to their country and will affect the tourist recovery.
Faced with the third wave of Covid-19 infections in Mexico that has reached more than 20,000 infected a day, the United Kingdom has decided to include the country on the red list of nations at risk to enter its territory, which would directly affect the tourist recovery of the country subtracting millions of dollars.
“The British government reviews this traffic light system every three weeks and in the case of Mexico, it worsened from amber to red category. This affects both the British who come to Mexico and vice versa because the hotel quarantine is established, where the traveler has to spend 10 days and spend more than 2,000 pounds or more than 50,000 pesos per person, “said Virgina Messina, Senior Vice President and Acting CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) .
According to the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur), the United Kingdom is the main issuer of travelers to our country from Europe and the fourth globally, in addition, the British market for our country grew 16.8% from 2015-2018, going from 505,954 tourists to 590,954 by air.
“As we know, the leisure segment and sun and beach destinations are very important because international spending did not decrease from 2019 to 2020, that is, of the total spending that comes from tourism in Mexico, 15% comes from international travelers, according to with our statistics. Of this percentage in 2020, despite the restrictions, the United Kingdom was the third-largest source of tourists to Mexico, it represents 1% of all international spending and we are talking about billions of dollars ”.
The WTTC estimates that 6,000 Britons are currently doing tourism in Mexico, who will have to return from an emergency since the measure will be applied as of Sunday, August 8, which has also caused airlines to increase their capacity, as in the British Airways case.
Unlike Mexico, which registers a vaccination rate of 37.7% of people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the United Kingdom has 70% of the adult population vaccinated and estimates that by October it will reach 100%, which Which reinforces mistrust especially due to the emergence of Covid-19 variants in other countries.
Given this, the senior vice president and acting CEO of WTTC urged a dialogue between the Mexican and British governments to seek joint solutions that do not affect tourism, in addition to intensifying vaccination in Mexico to prevent the spread or emergence of new variants.
“The variants are increasing and what these countries are seeing is how infections increase and this is not only based on the data reported by Mexico but also based on the tourists who have come to the United Kingdom from Mexico who possibly have a positive test for Covid-19 and it is the information that the British government follows the most ”, Messina concluded.
Source: forbes.com.mx
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