Wages in tourism on the rise

According to the Monthly Services Survey of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), wages paid to hotel and motel employees increased 8.5% in December 2017 compared to the previous year, once we deduct the inflation.

Wages in this sector had failed to see an increase in almost three years, after they rose 11.2% in May 2015.

This increase includes salaries, benefits, and profit shares paid to employees in the tourism industry .

Direct job offers in tourism increased 3.6% during the last quarter of 2017 against the 1.5% of the rest of the industries, according to the National Occupation and Employment Survey of the INEGI.

Companies in the tourism industry directly employed 4.95 million people in Mexico until the last quarter of 2016 – the highest number known since the first comparable registry, in 2006.

Almost a year ago, Minister of Tourism Enrique de la Madrid said to EL UNIVERSAL that “job creation grows twice in tourism than in other industries, which will reflect on an increase in wages in the tourism industry.”

Overall, 8.6% of the current working population in Mexico is employed by the tourism industry.

According to the Tourism Satellite Account of the INEGI, average wages in the industry in 2016 were equal to MXN$ 12,832 per month (USD$ 680.7*).

Calculated at an exchange rate of USD$1 = MXN$18.84

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