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The Mexican-Caribbean is expected to experience an upsurge in tourism over the next five years, as discovered during the ‘Rethinking Tourism’ Forum, held in Cancun. The forum, which occurred on Tuesday morning, found that tourism is set to increase exponentially due to the expansion of Cancun’s airport and the loosening of Covid-19 restrictions, not to mention countless new tourist attractions being built in the state of Quintana Roo.
Several key players in the region’s tourism industry were in attendance, including Cristina Alcayaga ( a member of the Advisory Council of the National Tourism Business Council) and Carlos Trueba (director of the Cancun International Airport). Ernesto Mendoza, the founder of Coco Bongo nightclub, and Jose Chapur, president of Grupo Palace hotels, were also present to discuss the future of the region’s tourism.
Primarily, the forum discussed how Terminal 4 at Cancun’s International Airport is set to receive an expansion to further accommodate the large number of international tourists arriving on a daily basis. This will include an upgrade of certain technologies as well as security procedures to ensure that travelers are able to pass through the airport as efficiently and safely as possible. During the forum, Carlos Trueba stated that this expansion of the airport could allow Cancun to exceed its current high record of passenger arrivals by the end of 2022.
The tourism industry in Cancun is also looking to increase the international acclaim of its nightlife, following in the footsteps of the popular nightclub, Coco Bongo. The famous Mexican nightclub has thrived in Cancun and Playa del Carmen and has even expanded to the Dominican Republic, with one club located in Punta Cana. If Cancun can continue to keep tourists hooked on its nightlife with internationally-acclaimed venues, there’s no doubt that international visitors will continue to flock to the tropical paradise for years to come.
The forum has also predicted that previous ‘low seasons’ for travel in Cancun and its surrounding areas will now be more popular than ever before, based on travel statistics for this September: with over 80% total occupancy and hundreds of international arrivals each weekend, Cancun’s ‘low season’ may soon become a thing of the past.
Hoteliers are also set to pique tourists’ interests with the introduction of several new hotels over the next few years. Since 2020, 11 new hotels have been built in Cancun, with many more to come as demand grows. Most notably, Grupo Xcaret has announced the opening of a new luxury resort in Riveria Maya, with Wyndham set to open a new hotel in November.
Hotelier Jose Chapur stated that the Mexican-Caribbean tourism industry would continue to work hard to ensure that passenger records will exceed year upon year:
“The main job we have for the next 5 years is to stay in the first place, we have already reached the first place and we have to maintain it…you have already seen the quality of our service and it has to be repeated.”
As expected, occupancy cases have skyrocketed since the end of strict Covid-19 measures banning international travel. The Mexican-Caribbean has long been a hotspot for American and Canadian tourists looking to chase away their winter blues or take a vacation over a bank holiday. With Cancun and the Mexican-Caribbean being just a short flight away, there is no doubt that the combination of the airport extension, new hotels, and the proximity of the Mexican-Caribbean to North America will ensure that Cancun continues to rise in popularity over the coming years.
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