Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 12, 2026 – Weekend visitor traffic and spending are weakening at local businesses, Canaco president Alejandro De León García said Wednesday, adding a street-level warning to tourism indicators already running below last year’s pace.
In remarks published Wednesday morning, De León said the decline includes people making short weekend trips. He contrasted the slower activity in Puerto Vallarta with what he described as stronger movement in Bahía de Banderas.
His comparison reflected what merchants are seeing rather than a statistical reading of arrivals, hotel occupancy or sales on each side of the state line. The broader slowdown, however, is visible in official data.
Puerto Vallarta International Airport handled 484,200 passengers during July, a 12.1 percent decline from the same month last year, according to Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico’s July traffic filing. Passenger volume between January and July fell 12.6 percent, leaving the airport with 550,000 fewer passengers than during the comparable 2025 period.
The July breakdown shows that the decline remained concentrated in international travel. International traffic dropped 29.8 percent from July 2025, while domestic passenger volume increased 0.6 percent.
That distinction matters when assessing weekend tourism. Airport figures exclude people arriving by road from Guadalajara, the Bajío and other nearby markets. PVR also serves travelers staying in Riviera Nayarit, meaning its totals describe traffic through the bay’s shared air gateway rather than how travelers divide their nights and spending between Jalisco and Nayarit.
Hotel data point in the same direction across a longer period. Puerto Vallarta’s average occupancy during the first half of 2026 stood at 69.38 percent, compared with 75.41 percent one year earlier, based on the federal DataTur hotel monitoring system. Municipal tourism officials later estimated that July closed between 65 and 68 percent occupancy, with Mexican travelers carrying much of the summer activity.
The softer year has also reached employment. PVDN’s review of local tourism employment found that Puerto Vallarta ended June with 1,219 fewer formal tourism jobs than it had a year earlier.
De León’s warning focuses on something visitor and occupancy totals can miss. He said many travelers own apartments equipped with kitchens and spend more time inside their properties, reducing trips to restaurants, shops and other local businesses. A visitor can therefore be present in the destination without producing the same street-level sales as a hotel guest who regularly eats out or books activities.
The Canaco leader urged business chambers and the municipal government to coordinate promotion, review prices and develop discounts targeting short-stay travelers from nearby cities. Puerto Vallarta and Jalisco are already planning monthly events aimed at Mexican travelers as international demand weakens.
The latest evidence presents two related pressures on the local economy. International air traffic has fallen sharply, while merchants say the visitors who do arrive are generating less activity across restaurants and shops. The airport decline is documented in passenger counts. The weekend spending concern comes directly from businesses watching their customer traffic and cash registers.
