Nuevo Nayarit, Nayarit, June 19, 2026 – Nayarit’s tourism secretary has reopened an old Bahía de Banderas argument: how much of Puerto Vallarta’s airport success was built by the tourism growth north of the Ameca River.
Juan Enrique Suárez del Real Tostado said that part of the region’s air connectivity has been supported by Nayarit’s tourism push, citing destinations such as Nuevo Nayarit, Punta de Mita, Sayulita, and San Pancho that depend heavily on the Puerto Vallarta airport gateway.
Puerto Vallarta still owns the airport address, the international brand recognition, and much of the urban service base. Nayarit is home to a fast-growing resort corridor that has helped fill planes, hotel rooms, vacation rentals, and private transfers for years.
The airport is the argument
The same airport is now serving two tourism economies at once. Puerto Vallarta International Airport closed 2025 with a record 6.9 million passengers, a high-water mark PVDN covered in its Puerto Vallarta airport traffic report. But 2026 has been weaker. GAP’s May figures show Puerto Vallarta handled 440,200 passengers that month, down 14.4 percent from May 2025, with international traffic down 26.5 percent.
That makes Suárez del Real’s argument more than political pride. If Nayarit’s hotel rooms and luxury projects help support demand along the route, then any slowdown at PVR affects both states. If airlines cut capacity, residents, visitors, property owners and tourism workers feel it from Marina Vallarta to Sayulita.
Puerto Vallarta and Jalisco have been pushing back against weaker travel demand by adding new routes and marketing efforts. Volaris recently added direct service from Aguascalientes, Puebla, and San Luis Potosí, which PVDN covered in Volaris Adds Three Direct Routes to Puerto Vallarta. Jalisco has also been trying to attract more Aeroméxico connectivity, though no new route has been formally announced.
Nayarit’s growth changed the gateway
Nayarit’s case is easy to understand on the ground. The official Riviera Nayarit visitor site describes Puerto Vallarta International Airport as a gateway located about 10 to 15 minutes from Nuevo Nayarit and Flamingos, about 30 minutes from Punta Mita and Litibú, and about one hour from Rincón de Guayabitos.
That geography has shaped the bay’s tourism economy for two decades. Visitors may land in Jalisco, but many sleep, eat, invest, and spend in Nayarit. The airport code is PVR, but the itinerary often says Nuevo Nayarit, Bucerías, Punta de Mita, Sayulita, or San Pancho.
Riviera Nayarit’s destination map now markets a chain of beach towns from Nuevo Nayarit and Punta de Mita to Sayulita and San Francisco, better known locally as San Pancho. The same official tourism material describes the bay’s Nayarit coast as a corridor of resort areas, beaches, golf, marinas, and smaller towns with distinct visitor profiles.
The private sector sees the same regional picture. CBRE México reported that Puerto Vallarta averaged 72.9 percent hotel occupancy from January through August 2025, while Riviera Nayarit averaged 74.7 percent over the same period. The firm also said luxury and upper-tier hotels now represent 60 percent of three- to five-star properties in the two-destination market.
The next shift may come from Tepic
Nayarit is also trying to reduce its reliance on PVR. The Tepic airport modernization, branded as the Tepic-Riviera Nayarit gateway, is listed by Proyectos México as a 4.13-billion-peso airport expansion and modernization project. The current program includes runway work, an 18,000-square-meter passenger terminal, four additional commercial aviation positions, a new control tower, and airport access improvements.
That does not make PVR irrelevant to southern Nayarit. It is still the practical airport for Nuevo Nayarit, Punta de Mita, and much of the south coast. But it gives Nayarit a stronger long-term argument when courting airlines, investors, and visitors.
More Tepic service could shift some northern Riviera Nayarit traffic away from PVR. It could also reduce pressure on the Vallarta terminal, especially during peak arrival days. The impact will depend on routes, pricing, ground transport, and how quickly airlines see demand beyond the bay’s southern corridor.
Shared success brings shared pressure
The bay’s tourism success has not only produced more flights and hotel rooms. It has also raised property values, increased traffic, stretched water and road systems, and intensified beach-access disputes.
That is already visible in Punta de Mita, where PVDN has followed the Playa Las Cocinas conflict, including the recent update in Nayarit backs down after Las Cocinas beach fight grows. It is also why development debates in San Pancho, Lo de Marcos, and Nuevo Nayarit are no longer isolated local stories. They are part of the same tourism model that fills the region’s planes.
A border tourists barely notice
Most visitors do not care where Jalisco ends, and Nayarit begins. They care whether the flight is affordable, the airport works, the transfer is smooth, the beach is accessible, and the destination still feels worth the cost.
That is why this debate matters for residents and property owners on both sides of the river. The airport’s success was never only about runways. It was built from hotel inventory, airline negotiations, destination marketing, roads, private investment, and the bay’s natural appeal.
Puerto Vallarta gave the region its strongest international gateway. Nayarit helped turn that gateway into a broader bay economy. The argument now is not who built the past. It is whether both sides can manage the growth they built together.
