Mexico's Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marques. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT

As a Hainan Airlines passenger aircraft taxied to the terminal after landing at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City after its inaugural flight from Beijing on July 13, it was welcomed by a ceremonial water salute. This new route, from Beijing to Mexico City via the north Mexico tourist destination of Tijuana, is the second direct flight between the two countries, following the resumption of the Shenzhen-Mexico City direct route in May this year, Mexico's Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marques told the Global Times in an exclusive interview. 

This new route will promote travel from northern Mexico to China and bring benefits to enhance bilateral relations, Torruco said, noting that traveling to China has become a trend among Mexican youth. He expressed the hope that more Chinese tourists will visit Mexico in the future.

Mexico is China's second-largest trading partner in Latin America and a popular destination for Chinese outbound tourism, Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Zhang Run said at a ceremony to welcome the new route. This route will play an important role in promoting cooperation between the two countries in trade, culture and tourism, greatly facilitating travel between China and Latin America.

On the evening of May 11, the first direct flight from Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, to Mexico City operated by China Southern Airlines landed at Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport after a 16-hour journey. The airport also held a water salute ceremony to welcome the arrival of the Chinese aircraft. This route, spanning over 14,000 kilometers, is currently the longest direct international passenger flight operated by China's civil aviation sector.

The enthusiasm for traveling to China has spread to the younger generation and even the entire society in Mexico, Torruco told the Global Times. 

"Everyone wants to go to Xi'an [in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province], Guilin [in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,], Shanghai, Beijing, and [South China's] Guangdong," the Mexican official said, noting that Mexico has great potential as a source country for international tourists, and major airlines have recognized this, and have doubled their efforts to meet public demand.

Mexico is looking forward to welcoming more Chinese tourists. According to statistics from the first five months of this year, it is expected that the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Mexico in 2024 will exceed that of 2019 before the pandemic, Torruco noted. 

"Mexico is part of both North America and Latin America, and it is also a major country, the new flight route requires a large number of passengers to support it," Pan Deng, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times. 

Fewer Chinese tourists visit Mexico compared to Mexican tourists visiting China, and fewer Chinese travel to other countries via Mexico than other countries citizens' do via Mexico to China, Pan noted. 

"The main reason is Mexico's unique positioning has not been fully understood by Chinese people. For example, Chinese businesspeople only realized in recent years that Mexico is a low-cost area through which to enter the North American free trade agreement zone, so they started setting up factories there. Previously, there was no such awareness," Pan said. 

Before the US started to push decoupling with China, it was sufficient to produce goods in China without the need to produce them in Mexico, Pan said, noting that Mexico had always tried to align itself more with the north and downplayed its role as the center of Latin America until the previous president restored its focus on Latin America.

With the increase in economic and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, more routes may be considered in the future, the Mexican official told the Global Times. 

More people-to-people exchanges 

To attract more Chinese tourists to Mexico, the country is introducing many measures to enhance their experience, the Mexican official said. 

"For example, [we are] setting up Chinese signs in some hotels and providing Chinese-language menus in restaurants," he said. Mexico welcomes more Chinese factories and enterprises, as they not only provide employment opportunities but also stimulate local economic development, he added.

The Global Times learned from Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform also known as Little Red Book, that passengers who flew on the direct flight from Shenzhen to Mexico City were generally satisfied with the cabin and service.

One netizen said that the 16-hour flight passed quickly due to the entertainment options, and said they appreciated the Chinese meals served on board.   

However, there is still room to improve the travel experience, as some passengers also complained about ticket prices and delays.

One netizen, recalling his experience of traveling, said that immigration inspections in China were too strict, as he was interviewed with a lot of questions. Another netizen shared his colleague's experience, noting that the flight was forced to return once because of a lack of fuel.

"Chinese tourists transiting through Mexico now need to pass through customs and apply for a visa. In the future, we hope Mexico can implement a policy similar to Europe, where transit passengers don't need to pass through customs and can transfer directly," Pan said, noting that this would make Chinese tourists more inclined to choose routes through Mexico.

Tourism is a very important and unique way for people to connect. For most people, seeing is believing, and short-term travel is the best way to form an initial impression of a country. 

Some experts said during the pandemic, the number of foreigners coming to China has drastically decreased. China now has taken various measures to attract foreigners, for example, by operating new flight routes and visa facilitation measures, which will help North American and Latin American tourists visit China.

China has become quite a popular destination for foreign tourists in recent months. Many have posted their experiences on social media. Numbers show that "China Travel" has become a top trending search on multiple global social media platforms.

Government figures show that in the first half of this year, China received 14.635 million foreign travelers, up 152.7 percent year-on-year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a recent press conference. 

Among them, 8.542 million entered China visa-free, up 190.1 percent year-on-year. As more and more countries benefit from the visa-free policy and as China adopts more measures to ease cross-border travel, "on-a-whim travel" to China is becoming a reality, Lin said. 

The "China travel" boom stems from China's unique charm, and more importantly, an open and inclusive Chinese society and the warm and hospitable Chinese people, the foreign ministry spokesperson noted.

Li Yawei also contributed to the story