On Monday, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon announced plans for his country to become the world's 5th most popular tourist destination by the year 2018. This announcement comes just weeks after declaring 2011 to be the "year of torurism" and on the heels of their new advertising campaign started last year, "Mexico, the place you thought you knew".  According to the World Tourism Organization, the country is already ranked 10th in the world, based on the number of annual visitors to the country and the amount of revenue that is generated. Other contenders on the list include the US, France, China and Italy.

To bolster Mexico's efforts to hit the number five slot, Calderon has outlined 10 strategic steps and 100 points of action, including advances in infrastructure via the construction of additional airports, highways and sea ports. In fact, flight service into and out of Mexico has already increased at a number of US airports, especially to popular tourist destinations like Cancun and the Riviera Maya.

Calderon is also encouraging Mexican travel agencies, resorts and tour companies to more aggressively promote Mexico as the perfect vacation destination, in part by diversifying the vacation packages that are offered, infusing them with higher quality options and a wider variety of activities and destinations to choose from. "Mexico is much more than having better beaches," Calderon said.

In 2010, official figures showed more than 22 million foreign tourists visited Mexico, with more than six million dollars US generated as a result. By comparison, this year Mexico's tourism industry hopes to offer around 4 million jobs and to offer support for around 12 million additional jobs, with income projected at around 40 billion dollars US.  More great news for mexico real estate!