Mexican Peso Weakened, Baja Tourism Rises

The Mexican peso has risen over 14 to the U.S. dollar as of mid-day Wednesday, erasing gains it made through early 2012. Euro-zone anxiety affected the peso in early Wednesday trading, as reported by the Dow Jones Newswire. The peso closed at 13.868 on Tuesday.

While the weakened peso is bad news for Mexico, it gives a slight lift to foreign tourists. Tijuana and Baja California has seen steadily rising visitor numbers over the last year.

San Diego Red reported last week that Tijuana made the list of top tourist destinations in Mexico, according to a report by a popular travel agency. The online site Despegar.com ranked Tijuana as the number two most visited city in Mexico by domestic and international tourists.

The U-T San Diego reported that Chicago based Hyatt plans to build a $14 million hotel in Tijuana this year. According to Alán Bautista, director of the city’s Tourism and Conventions Committee, hotel occupancy has risen 6% over the last year. Construction is set to begin next month, and the hotel is planned to open up next year.

Tijuana has dropped off of many of the most violent cities in the world lists, while it has seen an increase in business travelers, medical-tourists, and cross-border day trippers.