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There is no doubt that American travelers love Cancun, evidenced by the millions of U.S. tourists that visit the famous vacation destination every year, but tourists from four U.S. cities in particular love Cancun the most. Tourists are able to book direct flights from each of these four cities, and from three of them, the trip from the originating airport to Cancun International Airport is less than three hours. From these four airports alone, nearly 3 million American tourists have traveled to the busy Cancun airport between the beginning of the year and this September.
Cancun International Airport is the second busiest airport in Mexico and even surpassed Mexico City last year in the number of foreign travelers who flew into the airport. Cancun is also on the list of the 10 busiest airports in the world, placing 10th this year for receiving a record-breaking number of foreign tourists. So far this year, more than 20 million passengers have flown into the busy airport, and at least a couple million more are still expected this year.
The bulk of the foreign tourists that arrive at Cancun International come from the United States. In fact, as of September, 4 million Americans had already traveled to the city, and 60 percent of all foreign tourists who visited the city in the first half of the year were American. In addition to Cancun, other favorite Mexican Caribbean destinations that are popular among Americans include Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and Puerto Morelos.
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All of these places are most known for their breathtakingly beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear aqua-blue water, but each has a lot more to offer than sweeping views of the Caribbean Sea. Adventure sports and activities, ancient Mayan ruins and culture, delicious food ranging from Mediterranean to authentic Mexican, and exciting party scenes are just a few more reasons for the popularity of these destinations. Typically tourists visiting any of these destinations will use Cancun International Airport as their arrival destination.
Three of the U.S. cities with the busiest routes to Cancun from January to September are also first, second, and third on the list of routes with the most foreign travelers in general. And the fourth city is not far behind. These numbers add up to nearly 3 million total passengers.
This is according to the Center for Tourism Research and Competitiveness. Those cities and the number of passengers received during this timeframe include:
- Dallas – 847,000
- Houston – 757,548
- Chicago – 693,307
- Atlanta – 533,672
These numbers represent a large portion of the total number of American visitors that fly to Cancun, and they are not the only cities that have direct flights to the city. In fact, there are approximately 40 cities at any given time with airports that offer direct flights to Cancun. This number is subject to change based on the season, as some routes are added or taken away depending on the time of the year, but generally, the number hovers around 40.
A total of around 85 percent of all foreign visitors who visited Mexico this year entered the country by flying into one of its airports, and Cancun is no doubt one of the busiest. Not only does the airport give tourists easy access to other areas in the Mexican Caribbean, but officials have streamlined immigration and made it easier for American tourists to visit the country by getting rid of the tourist card and the paperwork that goes along with it. It’s for reasons like this that we will likely continue to see the Mexican Caribbean grow even more in popularity among American tourists.
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