Californians and other Americans are flooding Mexico City. Some locals want them to go home

Leer en español Fernando Bustos Gorozpe was sitting with friends in a cafe here when he realized that — once again — they were outnumbered. “We’re the only people speaking Spanish except the waiters.” Mexico has long been the top foreign travel destination for Americans, its bountiful beaches and picturesque pueblos luring tens of millions of U.S. visitors annually. “This city is becoming more and more expensive every day in part because of people like you, and you don’t even realize or care about it.” Hugo Van der Merwe, 31 — a video game designer who grew up in Florida and Namibia and has spent the last several months working remotely from Mexico City, Montreal and Bogota, Colombia — said he understands why locals are vexed by the growing population of “digital nomads.” Tourists gather July 6 for a bike tour of taco spots in Mexico City. The flood of American visitors began in earnest around 2016, when the New York Times named Mexico City the world’s top travel destination, and magazine writers wondered whether it was the “new Berlin.” International artists, chefs and designers arrived, scooping up inexpensive studio spaces, opening restaurants and integrating themselves into the city’s imaginative nightlife. Ricos Tacos Toluca is a stop on several of the “taco tours” that have emerged in recent years, and he said foreigners now supply about 15% of the stand’s revenue.