Mexico welcomed 32.1 million foreign tourists in 2015, knocking Russia out of ninth place on the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) list of top tourist destinations.
"The WTO indicated that, in the 2016 Barometer, Russia reported growth of 6.2 per cent, which represents 31.7 million visitors, or 446,000 fewer arrivals than Mexico had in 2015," the Tourism Secretariat said in a statement.
Foreign exchange revenues from international visitors rose 7.7 per cent to $US17.45 billion ($A23.30 billion), the secretariat said, allowing Mexico to move up in the currency list from 22nd to 17th place.
President Enrique Pena Nieto met on Monday with UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, who revealed Mexico's solid performance in the rankings.
France, according to the UNWTO, ranked first in drawing foreign visitors (86.1 million), while the United States ranked second (77.9 million visitors), and Spain was in third place (68.2 million).
