Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 17, 2026 – Puerto Vallarta hotels ended July with occupancy of approximately 68 percent, slightly below the same month last year but above Mexico’s national summer projection.
Abel Villa, president of the Puerto Vallarta Hotel Association, described the result as positive while acknowledging the year-over-year decline.
The July result reached the upper end of an earlier municipal estimate. In late July, Puerto Vallarta’s tourism director projected occupancy between 65 and 68 percent, with domestic travelers expected to support demand during the school vacation period.
The national comparison comes from the federal summer tourism forecast, which placed average hotel occupancy across Mexico at 65 percent. Puerto Vallarta therefore finished roughly three percentage points above the national projection, although the city still remained below its own 2025 performance.
Airport data show a sharper international decline
Hotel occupancy was stronger than the national summer forecast, but airport traffic points to a more difficult international market.
According to GAP’s July passenger report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Puerto Vallarta International Airport handled 484,200 terminal passengers in July. That was 12.1 percent below the 550,600 passengers recorded in July 2025.
The decline was concentrated among international passengers. International traffic fell from 229,100 passengers in July 2025 to 160,900 this year, a 29.8 percent decrease. Domestic traffic was comparatively stable, rising slightly from 321,500 to 323,300 passengers.
Through the first seven months of the year, the airport processed 3.81 million passengers, down 12.6 percent from the same period in 2025. International traffic was down 19.3 percent over that period, while domestic traffic declined 3.2 percent.
PVDN previously reported on the sharp drop in international airport traffic.
Hotel occupancy and airport traffic measure different parts of the tourism economy. The federal DataTur monitoring system tracks reported hotel performance, while GAP counts passengers moving through the airport. Neither figure alone measures total visitor spending, short-term rentals, restaurant activity or the number of travelers staying with family or friends.
The available figures do suggest that domestic travel helped sustain summer hotel demand while international air traffic weakened. They do not establish how many occupied rooms were filled by national or foreign travelers.
Hotel officials now expect the winter season to provide a clearer test of demand. Villa said hotel partners and airlines are seeing signs of interest in the coming months, but the July airport figures show that international recovery has not yet appeared in passenger totals.
The next monthly airport reports and winter booking performance will show whether that expected demand produces a sustained increase in flights and hotel occupancy.
