New Mexico Tourism agency reports rise in international travel, bucking national trend

The number of international travelers visiting New Mexico increased in 2025, deviating from the national trend, the New Mexico Tourism Department said in a news release Wednesday.

An estimated 760,000 international travelers visited the state last year, an approximate 1.1% increase over the prior year, according to a report published by travel research firm Tourism Economics. During the same time, international travellers visiting the United States dropped 5.5%, nationally, the report said.

“The country as a whole faced a number of challenges to tourism growth in 2025, but New Mexico was able to defy the national trend thanks to informed marketing strategy and dynamic partnerships,” Acting Tourism Secretary Lancing Adams said in a statement on Wednesday.

One of those challenges, Democrats on the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee argued in a May report, is the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign imports. In a particular example reported by Stateline, tourism hubs that rely on visitors from one of Trump’s tariff targets — Canada — saw a decline of Canadian visitors and economic loss, which business owners interviewed attributed to tariffs and aggressive immigration policies. The United States Travel Association also notes that international travel has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, while “policy barriers and declining perceptions of the U.S. are creating new headwinds.”

In total, 42 million visitors to New Mexico brought in $8.8 billion in spending, according to the Tourism Economics report. This number increases to roughly $12 billion when revenues from supply chain and incomes spent by New Mexico tourist sector employees are included, the report noted. A total of $835 million was made by state and local taxes while tourist activity directly supported 72,810 jobs, the report said.

“We will continue to position New Mexico as a welcoming and worthy destination for leisure travel, which is what travelers across the globe are seeking in 2026,” Adams concluded in the statement.