Mayan ‘Apocalypse’ Fills Mexico Hotels as Travel Rises to Record

To some doomsday interpreters, completion of the Maya calendar cycle today is a sign of an impending apocalypse. For Mexico’s tourism industry, it’s hardly the end of the world.

Curiosity about the ancient Maya culture sparked by predictions for the end of days helped draw a record of at least 23 million visitors to Mexico this year, said Deputy Tourism Minister Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez. Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SAB, the airport operator, said Maya-fueled travel boosted passenger traffic to Cancun to an all-time high in 2012, and hotelier Grupo Posadas SAB says it helped spur a 40 percent jump in net income at beach destinations.