MEXICO CITY, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- A total of 20.6 million international tourists visited Mexico during the first quarter of the year, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) said on Sunday.

The growth was a 7.3 percent increase from the same time period last year, Sectur said.

Between January and June, tourists spent a total of 11.582 billion dollars, which was an increase of 4.3 percent over the same period in 2017, Sectur said.

In comparison, 9.5 million Mexicans traveled internationally during the first half of the year, an 11.4 percent increase from the same period last year.

"Mexico maintains a constant growth in international tourism as well as economic revenue in spite of natural phenomena and external factors," Sectur said.

The number of foreign travelers arriving by air between January and June was 9,639,00 or 5.4 percent.

In comparison, 4,191,000 travelers arrived at the country's various ports by way of cruise ships, this represented a 10.4 percent increase from January to June 2017.

In 2017, Mexico was the sixth most visited country in the world with 39.3 million tourists beating out such countries as Germany, Great Britain and Turkey, according to the government data.

Mexico could see 41 million visitors in 2018, according to an estimate provided by Minister of Tourism Enrique de la Madrid on July 4.

Foreign revenue received from tourism could grow 7 percent this year from the 21.3 billion dollars generated in 2017, according to projections from Sectur.