International travelers flocked to Cancun in March, providing a strong lift to passenger counts at Cancun International Airport and pushing the popular beach resort tourist destination to over six million international visitors so far this year.
Double Digit Cancun Traveler Increase
The international traveler count at Cancun International Airport in March topped 2.28 million visitors, an increase of 10.8 percent over the 2.06 million a year ago.
That strong increase was enough to push Cancun over the six million international tourist mark for the year. The 6.41 million international visitors this year was considerably more than the 5.89 million travelers visiting the tourist beach resort destination hotspot last year to date.
Domestic travelers to Cancun actually declined year-over-year in March. The total passenger count only increased about three percent to 8.73 million total visitors.
Cozumel Tourism Rockets Ahead
Granted, the passenger counts at Cozumel are less than in Cancun and start at a much lower level, but Cozumel had very strong gains in airport traffic during March.
International passenger counts at Cozumel jumped more than 19 percent in March to 73,439. That helped to increase the year-to-date international traveler count to 190,230, a more than 20 percent gain over the year-to-date 2023 number.
Overall, tourists have increased their love of Cozumel this year, with more than a 30 percent increase in visitors to the island to more than 248,000 travelers.
Visitors Find Magic in Merida
Finally, international travelers continue to discover the magic of Merida, with a 10.8 percent increase in tourists using the local airport in March.
It helped the airport nearly top 100,000 travelers using the facility this year, a 6.9 percent over the year-over-year visitor count from last year.
Despite the strong international numbers, the number of domestic travelers heading to Merida so far this year is flat year-over-year.
About 900,000 travelers have used the airport to check out the emerging Yucatan destination this year.
International Travel Strong
In the past, domestic travelers were an important component of growth in tourism to the Mexican Caribbean.
However, that trend is reversing as domestic travelers fell considerably in March as prices skyrocketed for resorts in the area due to the peak of the spring holiday travel period.
More and more international travelers are discovering the area with additional flights, the launch of the Maya Train, and, of course, the new government-owned airport facility in Tulum.
Officials from Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S.A.B. de C.V., the publicly-traded operator of the airport, were quick to warn that as for the airport results, readers should remember that the peak of the spring travel period was in April last year, as opposed to March this year.
Still, the numbers are very impressive for international travel, and it looks like the Mexican Caribbean is hotter than ever for visitors from around the globe.
Book Now for Any 2024 Cancun Travel
While we don’t have official numbers from Tulum International Airport, which received its first international arrivals in March, it appears that the Mexican Caribbean continues to attract international travelers in record numbers.
As demand stays strong, travelers should prepare for full flights and above-average room rates for accommodations to continue across all areas in the Mexican Caribbean.
Cancun remains a great place for a beach resort vacation getaway. However, tourists will need to plan even further ahead to get the best deals on flights and accommodations.
It is recommended that visitors looking to travel to Cancun any time this year should start looking into flights and hotels now for the best deal.
This is especially the case if visitors are looking to travel to the Mexican Caribbean during the peak winter holiday travel period.
It is expected that the popularity of Cancun as a travel destination will continue for the remainder of the year, and the best deals are those that are locked in now.
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