Mexican Airports Report Record Number of Arrivals in March

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, airports serving popular tourism destinations in Mexico reported higher passenger numbers in March than experienced in 2019 before the coronavirus outbreak.

According to the Riviera Maya News, airport managing company ASUR said Cancun International Airport reported the arrival of 692,686 passengers last month, a record for March and a five-percent increase from the same month in 2019.

Other Mexican markets that reported international market growth compared to 2019 last month included Ciudad Juarez, Hermosillo, La Paz and Los Mochis.

In terms of domestic flights during the busy spring holiday travel period, the airports of Cancun, Los Cabos, Mazatlan and Tijuana not only topped the numbers recorded in 2020, but also topped the number of arrivals recorded in 2019 before the pandemic.

“It is worth noting that several airports in domestic traffic registered growth,” Intercam Director of Analysis Alejandra Marcos said. “It is important to mention that on March 15 of last year, the mitigation measures began, so the comparison was relatively easy to overcome.”

The airline industry in Mexico isn’t the only tourism sector bouncing back as COVID-19 vaccines become more accessible, as officials in Cancun and Riviera Maya remain optimistic as hotel occupancy rates in Quintana Roo appear to be exceeding expectations this spring.

The Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council (CPTQ) said last week preliminary rates between 65.1 and 65.3 percent were reported in the region during the Easter holiday.