Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, July 9, 2026 — Tourist boat operators operating from Puerto Vallarta’s maritime terminal and Los Peines dock carried nearly 51,000 fewer passengers during the first half of 2026, another sign that the city’s tourism slowdown is reaching businesses that depend on visitors’ spending after they arrive.
Figures published by the Puerto Vallarta National Port System Administration show 256,053 passengers used tourist boats departing through the federally administered port facilities from January through June. The same facilities recorded 306,908 passengers during the first six months of 2025.
That is a loss of 50,855 passengers, or 16.6%, in one year.
The number of recorded boat trips also fell, from 18,157 during the first half of 2025 to 15,690 this year. Those totals represent a decline of approximately 13.6%, although an initial local report on the figures placed the reduction at 12.2%.
The passenger decline was steeper than the reduction in departures, suggesting that operators were not simply running fewer tours. The boats that continued operating were carrying lighter loads on average.
The figures work out to approximately 16.9 passengers per recorded trip during the first half of 2025, compared with about 16.3 passengers this year. That difference may appear small on a single departure, but, spread across thousands of excursions, it points to weaker demand and reduced operating activity.
The port statistics cover tourist vessels using the maritime terminal and the neighboring Los Peines dock, where many excursions to beaches, snorkeling sites and destinations around Banderas Bay begin. They do not provide a complete count of the bay’s excursion market.
Boats also leave from Los Muertos Pier, Boca de Tomatlán and private marina facilities, while smaller water taxis and independent operators serve communities and beaches south of the city. Comparable first-half figures for those departure points were not immediately available, making it impossible to determine whether the same decline affected the entire local boat-tour market.
The port numbers nevertheless provide a consistent comparison for one of the city’s largest regulated departure areas, and the weakness follows declines in other parts of Puerto Vallarta’s tourism economy.
Passenger traffic at Puerto Vallarta International Airport fell 12.7% during the first half of the year, a loss of nearly half a million passengers compared with the same period in 2025. International traffic accounted for most of that decline, as reported in Vallarta Daily’s examination of the airport’s first-half passenger losses.
The summer season also opened below industry expectations. Hotel occupancy began the vacation period at just above 60%, with tourism businesses looking toward the second half of July for stronger demand. Vallarta Daily previously reported on the slower-than-expected start to the summer tourism season.
Tourist boat activity is particularly sensitive to changes in visitor volume because excursions are usually discretionary purchases made after airfare and lodging have already been paid. A traveler may still take a planned vacation while reducing spending on day cruises, snorkeling trips, fishing charters or private boats.
Operators also incur costs that do not automatically decrease when fewer seats are sold. Fuel, crew wages, dock charges, maintenance and insurance remain part of each departure, creating pressure to consolidate tours, reduce schedules or operate with smaller margins when bookings weaken.
The decline does not mean every excursion company or departure point experienced the same result. Larger operators, private charters, and water taxis serve different markets, and demand can vary with price, weather, cruise arrivals, and the location where tickets are sold.
Cruise activity also produced an uneven first half. Puerto Vallarta experienced cancellations and itinerary changes earlier in the year, followed by days when multiple ships brought thousands of passengers into the port at once. The city received a short business lift from a double cruise arrival in early July, but the summer cruise calendar remains light.
ASIPONA’s published totals do not identify which months produced the largest losses, how many tours were canceled, or whether passenger counts weakened across all vessel categories. They also do not separate local passengers from tourists staying in Puerto Vallarta or neighboring municipalities.
The next several months will show whether the first-half decline was concentrated around the disruptions and weaker travel demand seen earlier in the year or has become a longer downturn for excursion operators.
For now, the port data show that fewer people are reaching the ticket counter, fewer boats are leaving the dock, and the vessels that do depart are carrying fewer passengers than they did one year ago.
