Might was one of many worst-performing months for passenger visitors in Cancun in a number of years, based on new knowledge from ASUR, which manages Cancun Worldwide Airport.
Passenger visitors in Cancun was 2.438 million in Might, a 7.2 p.c decline in comparison with the identical interval in 2023.
That included a 2.3 p.c discount in worldwide visitors and a 14.7 p.c decline in home visitors in Mexico.
It’s the primary main blip of the yr for Cancun, whose airport continues to be forward of final yr’s numbers by 6.4 p.c for the primary 5 months of the yr.
Whereas it’s not fairly clear the rationale for the decline, the Mexican Caribbean’s latest airport might be the offender: white-hot Tulum, which now has a world airport of its personal and is already welcoming a large variety of flights from nearly each main US service, from American Airways to Delta (and a few Canadian carriers, too).
Tulum is a couple of two-hour drive from Cancun. When Cancun was the one air hub for attending to Tulum, vacationers must fly to Cancun and both hire a automotive or discover a transportation firm. Now an growing variety of these vacationers are merely flying as an alternative to Tulum.
Journey brokers and tour operators are echoing that sentiment; ALG Holidays, for instance, says Tulum is the preferred vacation spot within the Caribbean proper now.
Whereas the numbers wouldn’t imply a decline for tourism to Mexico typically (in any case, guests are nonetheless going to a Mexican vacation spot), it might level to the rising significance of Tulum as a tourism energy, each in Mexico and the area.
We’ll see how the remainder of 2024 performs out.
— CJ