The Mexican authorities have announced that the country has decided to ban the so-called ‘shark tourism’ at Guadalupe Island.
Guadalupe Island is popular for cage diving, sport fishing, as well as white shark-watching, among other activities. However, since the government has decided to protect sharks in the Isla Guadalupe Biosphere Reserve, visitors will no longer be permitted to carry out such activities, VisaGuide.World reports.
While the decision to put an end to shark-related activities is good news for those protecting the wildlife of the region, the case is not the same for the tourism and economy sector.
CNN Travel explains that the decision directly affects tour as well as charter companies that offer trips to the area. At the same time, it noted that drones have also been banned. Drones will be permitted to be used only in certain cases, such as to monitor animal and plant activity in reserve.
Even though the decision of the government has officially entered into force, some tour outfitters have said they are hoping that the ban may not be permanent. Some tourism companies are hoping for the same too, and one of them has said that the ban won’t last for too long.
Mexico is one of the most popular destinations in the world, which registered millions of international tourists arrivals each year.
The Mexican Ministry of Tourism just recently revealed that between January and November 2022, the country welcomed around 18.4 million international tourists to its airports. The same stress that such a high number of arrivals represents an eight percent increase compared to 2018 and a 52 percent increase compared to 2021.
Data provided by the Ministry show that the highest number of tourist arrivals from January until November 2022 was registered from the United States, Canada, and Columbia.
During the above-mentioned period, around 11.7 million US tourists reached Mexico, marking a 30.2 percent increase compared to 2021 and a 24.1 per cent increase compared to 2019.
As for arrivals from Canada, data show that the Mexican airport registered about 1.4 million tourist arrivals – 338.9 percent higher than in 2021 and 27.5 below the 2019 levels.
In comparison to tourist arrivals from the US and Canada, the number of those reaching Mexico was lower. Figures show that over 786,900 Colombians reached Mexico between January and November 2022.
Now that the COVID restrictions have been completely dropped in most countries around the world, it is expected that the number of visitors choosing to reach Mexico this year will increase even more.
The post Mexico Bans Shark-Related Tourism Activities at Guadalupe Island appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
