MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico passed a milestone of sorts in September when the airport at the country’s biggest coastal resort, Cancun, surpassed pre-pandemic levels of passengers.
The Airports of the Southeast group, which runs the terminal at the Caribbean coast resort, said Wednesday it handled 1.66 million passengers in Cancun in September, 4.4% percent more than in the same month of 2019.
By January 2020, the coronavirus pandemic cut pasenger numbers drastically, and only about 854,000 passengers used the airport in September 2020.
It is unclear, but highly possible, that passenger levels at the Cancun airport for all of 2021 could equal or exceed the 2019 annual number.
Mexico never instituted any quarantine or testing requirements for incoming passengers, in part to avoid affecting the country’s tourism income.
In June, the resort of Cozumel, south of Cancun, welcomed the first arrival of a cruise ship carrying passengers since the pandemic essentially collapsed that industry.
Quintana Roo state is home to the resorts of Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum. The state depends on tourism for 87% of its economic activity.
Anecdotal evidence suggests tourists are attracted to Mexico’s Caribbean resorts in part because there has been no lockdown and health precautions are largely voluntary. Many visitors shed their masks when they reach their hotels or beach clubs.
The state saw an upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the spring, in part linked to increased travel around Easter week, and partial reductions at businesses like hotels and restaurants were implemented to stem the surge, which has since declined.
Mexico has never enforced a strict, European-style lockdown.
Trending Stories Right Now on PVDN
- Business man Fernando Pineda Trillo missing in Puerto Vallarta Businessman Fernando Pineda Trillo, who has been generating jobs in Puerto Vallarta as a restaurateur for more than 30 years, disappeared on Friday, May 20, in Vallarta where he was last seen near the Malecón. His family demands that the municipal and state authorities locate him promptly. At a press conference in Puerto Vallarta, the…
- First came ‘Red Tide’, now a warning in Bahía de Banderas for ‘Green Tide’ After the presence for several months of red tide in the waters of Banderas Bay (Cabo Corrientes and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and Banderas Bay, Nayarit), which has left thousands of dead fish on the beaches, researchers from the University of Guadalajara now detected green tide. María del Carmen Cortés Lara, Master of Science and researcher…
- Businessman Fernando Pineda Trillo found after two days of being reported as missing Fernando Pineda Trillo, a restaurant entrepreneur who was reported missing on May 21 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, has already been located, as reported by the State Prosecutor’s Office on Monday afternoon when they managed to establish communication with the businessman who reported that he was in Puerto Vallarta and requested help. The agency also reported…
- Mexico’s weather service predicts five hurricane landfalls in the 2022 season Of the total number of cyclones that are expected to form in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans during 2022, it is estimated that around five could make landfall in Mexico, said the general director of the National Water Commission (Conagua), Germán Arturo Martínez Santoyo. According to the National Meteorological Service (SMN), between 14 and 19…
- Authorities have only reviewed 2 of the 15 cameras at hotel where Debanhi’s body was found Mario Escobar, Debanhi’s father, revealed that only the video recordings of two of the fifteen cameras that were found in the Nueva Castilla Motel during the last search have been analyzed. He reported that he made a request to review all the videos, through the Executive Commission for Victim Assistance. At a press conference, the…
