Mexico Hails 2016 Tourism Boom

Mexico enjoyed a banner year in 2016 for tourism, hitting "historic highs" in part due to a spike in the number of US travelers drawn in by the weakened peso, the government said on Wednesday. A total of 35 million foreign visitors went to Mexico last year, up 9% from 2015, the tourism ministry said. Those tourists brought in $19.5 billion last year, 10.4% more than the year before, AFP reported. The government said the figures showed that the tourism sector was "one of the main driving forces" for the country's economy. The peso took a beating last year, largely due to the campaign and election that elevated Donald Trump to the US presidency. Trump has pledged to renegotiate the free trade deal binding the US, Mexico and Canada, and to build a wall on the US-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration. More than one million people legally cross the border every day, along with 400,000 vehicles. But those numbers could fall off if the wall project is carried out.