Mexico may suffer tourism loss worth USD 782 million as Canada suspends flights

On Sunday, the Tourism Minister of Mexico calculated an estimate and announced that as a result of Canada suspending all flights to the country, there could be 791,000 fewer tourists and a heavy loss to the tourism industry.

Canada's decision to suspend flights by its major airlines to Mexico for three months to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic could cost the Mexican tourism industry around $782 million in lost revenue, Mexico's government said on Sunday.

Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco made the estimate on the basis there could be up to 791,000 fewer tourists as a result of the suspension Canada imposed from Sunday through April 30, his ministry said in a statement.

Still, the losses may end up smaller, Torruco said.

The minister said Canada could also miss out on 372,000 Mexican visitors and $368 million in lost revenues because of freezing the flights.

Mexico has not moved to suspend flights to Canada, although one airline, Aeromexico, said it would halt flights to Canada from the second week of February until the end of April.

Compared with 2019, the number of visitors to Mexico from Canada fell last year by 61.3% to 1,020,000, the ministry said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.