The importance of the european touroperation in the Caribbean

The tourism industry is aware that the diversification of markets is one of the main allies of the hotel industry in the Caribbean, and that many times the growth of certain markets can compensate for the loss in others. What this principle refers to is that, for many years, the hotel sector in the area depended on a high percentage of the U.S. and Canadian markets. However, to date (and still far from being balanced with previous ones) the growth of the european market is gaining ground and already represents a more than significant number of visitors.

The Mexican Secretary of Tourism, Enrique de la Madrid, says that in the last five years “we have recorded an increase of 34% in the arrival of tourists from Europe to the country,” while the Secretariat of Tourism (Sectur) provides data that confirm this: England, Spain, Germany and France are in the list of the ten countries with the highest number of foreign visitor arrivals.

Specifically, in the period from January to June of this year, more than 272,000 English visitors, more than 144,000 Germans, close to 143,000 French and 167,400 Spaniards arrived in Mexico. In addition, airlines such as Thompson, Iberia, Lufthansa, Air France, EuroWings and Wamos Air, report just over one and a half million passengers transported to Mexico in the same half of 2018.

The United Kingdom, for its part, is one of the main emitters of tourists from Europe to Mexico and the third largest in the world. In 2016 there were 513,800 British visitors, 7.6% more than in 2015. The average stay of this visitor is 13 nights, with an estimated cost per trip, including transportation, of approximately 2,885 dollars. Another significant example is Germany, which after the United Kingdom and Spain is consolidated as the third most important European market for Mexico. The influx of these tourists to the Mexican Caribbean increased by almost 11%, with an average stay of 17 nights and Mexico City, Riviera Maya and Cancun as the main destinations chosen.

Among the main tour operators is TUI Group, which is the largest operator in Europe and sends around half a million passengers annually to Mexico, mainly from the UK and Germany. Thomas Cook, with more than 450,000 passengers/year, would follow in second place in terms of size. In addition to these connectivities, Dingus has other major tour operators that help our customers diversify their market and increase their production, taking advantage of the connections we provide.

The European market is becoming more and more present in the country, in particular, and in Caribbean destinations in general. This is one of the main reasons why Dingus works with the main European online channels and traditional operators, such as Tui, Thomas Cook and Iberoservice, with the ability to automate the processes of downloading reservations to hotels.