Los Cabos: Behind the Curtain of Success

Los Cabos is having some good days. No, let’s make that years. The destination, once a lazy fishing outpost on the tip of the Baja that started seeing green as a tourism destination when timeshares came into fashion in the 1990s, now sees 90 percent of its population base somehow connected to tourism as new reasons to visit continue to stack.

“We think that 2023 is going to be a historical year,” said Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, over lunch during a visit to Los Angeles this month. He was there to update Virtuoso agents on some of those new reasons to send clients to the destination, but the list was lengthy and beyond what travel agents are used to booking in Los Cabos.

“2022 was a good year, a very good year. We grew 25 percent. But 2023 is showing tourism growth by an additional 18 percent so far and that is only since January,” said Esponda.

Over-the-Top Stays
For starters, the destination is exploding as a high-end luxury getaway. In April, for instance, the last beachfront casita at Four Seasons in Los Cabos went on the market for $22.5 million. The six bedroom, six bathroom beach villa can be counted as one of many in Los Cabos, mostly along the Sea of Cortez, and bookable from $6,000 a night to $20,000 through a number of platforms friendly to travel advisors.

Similarly, Nobu Hotel Los Cabos, which opened to fanfare in 2019 with owners Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro, and Meir Teper on site and parties that included such luminaries as Leo DiCaprio, widened its footprint earlier this year. Sixty residences featuring one to four bedrooms, exclusive amenities and sleek décor, can now be booked for a more reasonable $1,600 a night.

Welcoming the Private Flyer
Complementing the array of over-the-top villa options has been an increase in private aviation – and travel advisors are beginning to get onboard with booking. In fact, private air transport from the U.S. to Los Cabos skyrocketed by more than 83 percent compared to numbers in 2019 and currently clocks in at more than 9000 private flyers a month.

Recently, JSX provided a more affordable semi-private way to get to Los Cabos in style, using private airports or terminals that by-pass the lines and airport chaos and offer a spacious and relaxing inflight experience. Other private aviation brands heading to the Baja include Aero, a by-the-seat private jet service backed by Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, and, like JSX, maintains a hub at Love Field in Dallas. Ensuring luggage arrives, flying with pets and spending much less time at the airport are other reasons visitors prefer to fly private to Los Cabos.

Private flyers may land at one of two airports, but will likely arrive at Cabo San Lucas Airport (CSL), some five miles from Cabo San Lucas. Some 70 percent of the private aviation operations in Los Cabos use that small airport. CSL airport recently completed a major expansion to accommodate the steep rise in use. Los Cabos International Airport in Cabo San Lucas receives some 30 percent of the private jet activity and is undergoing a number of expansion schemes as well.

For the majority of visitors who take scheduled air to the beach resort destination, Esponda noted that as of June there were some 600 weekly flights to Los Cabos with direct connectivity from 24 U.S. cities. New entrants or those with plans for entering this market include Avoris Iberojet in Madrid, Condor and Eurowings out of Frankfurt, Edelweiss from Zurich, Virgin Atlantic from London, Copa Airlines from Panama and Jetlines from Toronto. But the majority of visitors come from Southern California – taking up nearly a quarter of the market share in lift (and up 14 percent from last year). Dallas is next with 16.1%, Houston 14.8% and Phoenix 12%.

For those landing in Los Cabos International Airport (SJD), improvements are also afoot with an ambitious plan to create a 20-second pass through customs – rather than the long snaking lines visiting arrivals are accustomed to seeing.

Streamlining the country’s the third busiest airport is no small feat as more than 670,000 international tourists passed through the airport during the first quarter of 2023, mostly from the U.S. This will happen as electronic entry gates are installed. Visitors with chip-enabled passports will slide their passport onto a glass reader that matches the holder with the passport, and out they go, ready to hit the beach.

Hotels with Diamonds Attached
That beach may belong to one of the many hotels (Los Cabos has 18,000 rooms – 2000 of those belonging to 14 Virtuoso hotel partners. Of Mexico’s 15 Five Diamond resorts, Esponda notes that eight are in Los Cabos, which is two more than in Los Angeles).

And in Los Cabos, checking in does not come cheap. The average daily rate as of March was $509 – significantly higher than last year and even then may be hard to book. Hotels have been registering a robust 80 percent occupancy this year across the board.

Among the well-anticipated openings is Grand Velas Boutique Los Cabos, a 79-suite, all-inclusive, adults-only resort overlooking the Sea of Cortez, which is targeting a late 2023 launch. Also opening later this year is the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol, located on 50 beachfront acres with 74 guest rooms and casitas, 17 expansive suites and five chic villas. Amenities will include family and adults-only pools, a luxury spa and an open-air mercado.

Openings in 2024 will include the Park Hyatt Los Cabos at Cabo del Sol, the St. Regis Los Cabos at Quivira, the Amanvari on the East Cape, Vidanta East Cape, and Soho House and Beach Club in Cabo del Sol.

Whales, Wellness, Wellbeing
Regarding attractions and novel destination vacation choices, Esponda is notably excited about options offered by the Modern Elder Academy, an unusual retreat based in Los Cabos and founded by serial hospitality entrepreneur, Chip Conley, featuring five- and seven-day mastery workshops for people in mid or late career seeking their next path and purpose.

He also sees Cabo becoming a top dive destination and notes the calendar from DiveNinja as a go-to resource for seasonal diving and cetacean spotting opportunities.

Offering travel advisors, who are responsible for booking around a third of the visitors coming to Los Cabos, many ways to access information, find the right products for their clients and easily book them has not come easy. The official website, VisitLosCabos.travel, has been revamped over the past year to offer at least a 100 points of interactive information; a Los Cabos Specialist program continues to help advisors stay current on the destination with plenty of incentives to do so; new restaurants, many with Michelin stars, add sheen to the destination as does a hearty selection of wellness services – which, Esponda adds, are requested by 80 percent of the people that visit the destination. And keeping the aura and reality of safety throughout the beach resort as a top priority has taken a massive effort in Los Cabos with all hands on deck.

“We have, for the past five years, been in the top two or three destinations in Mexico for safety (of 75 cities monitored) and this is not due to luck,” says Esponda.

“It has been hard work from the public and private sector. For instance, we are the only destination that connects all its surveillance cameras – a collaboration model that has taken a lot of effort to optimize and monitor with special policing units, all starting five years ago. And it is working. We have been the fastest growing destination in Mexico and that is something we need to protect.”