Cancun Airport Surpasses Pre-Pandemic Passenger Numbers in September

Mexico’s tourism industry continues to bounce back from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic by announcing one of the country’s top coastal airports has surpassed pre-pandemic levels of passengers.

According to The Associated Press, officials from Cancun International Airport revealed the facility handled 1.66 million passengers in September, a 4.4 percent increase when compared to the same month in 2019.

Data from the Airports of the Southeast group—which runs the terminal at Cancun International—showed that only about 854,000 commercial airline passengers used the airport in September 2020.

Early data suggests it’s “highly possible” that passenger levels at the Cancun airport in 2021 could equal or exceed the 2019 totals. The lack of quarantine or testing requirements for incoming passengers has helped the destination thrive despite the ongoing pandemic.

Last month, Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez announced popular destinations like Cancun and Riviera Maya welcomed a higher number of American tourists during the 2021 summer holiday travel season than before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

Joaquin Gonzalez said data from the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council (CPTQ) and the National Migration Institute (INM) revealed 38 percent more travelers from the U.S. arrived in the Mexican state this year than in 2019.

In September, Playa Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Hotels Corporation celebrated the official opening of the all-inclusive Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun in the Mexican Caribbean.