Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, June 20, 2026 – Puerto Vallarta’s airport sent one of the clearest warning signals yet for the local tourism economy in May: passenger traffic fell 14.4 percent from a year earlier, far sharper than the decline across GAP’s Mexican airports.
The airport handled 440,200 terminal passengers in May, down from 514,300 in May 2025, based on GAP’s May passenger traffic report. The loss was not evenly spread. International traffic fell 26.5 percent, while domestic traffic slipped 4.1 percent.
The international column is the warning sign
The number worth watching is not the group average. It is the international column.
Puerto Vallarta lost about 74,100 passenger movements in May compared with the same month last year. About 62,600 of those were international. That means foreign-route traffic accounted for most of the monthly decline.
Terminal passenger counts include both arrivals and departures. A round-trip visitor usually appears twice in the airport data. So this is not the same as saying Vallarta had 74,000 fewer visitors in May.
But for local businesses, the direction still matters. Fewer passenger movements often mean fewer restaurant tables, transfers, tours, check-ins, and walk-in spending.
From January through May, PVR handled 2.9 million passengers, down 11.8 percent from the first five months of 2025. International traffic was down 16.5 percent during that period, while domestic traffic was down 3.6 percent.
This is not just normal low season
May is normally softer than winter in Puerto Vallarta. Canadian and U.S. snowbird travel fades, Easter has passed, and summer family travel has not fully arrived.
But this comparison is May against May. That removes much of the seasonal excuse.
Across GAP’s full network, available seats fell 7.5 percent in May, while load factors rose from 81.1 percent to 84.1 percent. There were fewer seats, and the planes that flew were fuller.
Other Mexican tourism airports were also soft. Los Cabos fell 6.0 percent in May, while A21’s report on Mexican airport groups noted that ASUR’s Mexican airports also saw weaker international traffic. Puerto Vallarta’s 14.4 percent total drop, and especially its 26.5 percent international drop, still stands out.
A record year made the fall look sharper
The drop also comes after a strong base year. Puerto Vallarta closed 2025 with a record 6.9 million passengers and more than 67,000 airport operations.
That makes year-over-year comparisons tougher. A destination can still be large, connected, and important while posting a sharp decline from a record year.
Airport officials have continued to tell an expansion story. By May, PVR’s new airport terminal was 71 percent complete, with civil construction expected to finish this year and certification work still ahead.
PVDN has also reported how Puerto Vallarta Airport’s new 2026 routes fit into the airport’s long-term growth plan, even as short-term traffic numbers remain uneven.
Both stories can be true. The terminal is a long-term bet. The May traffic number is a short-term warning.
Domestic routes are the summer test
The domestic side now carries more weight for summer.
Volaris has started new Puerto Vallarta routes from Aguascalientes, Puebla and San Luis Potosí. Those flights began in June, so they do not appear in the May traffic numbers.
If the new routes perform well, they could help stabilize the domestic side during the summer. They will not, by themselves, replace a large international drop.
In May, Puerto Vallarta lost more than five times as many international passenger movements as domestic ones. That is why the destination cannot treat domestic recovery as a full substitute for foreign air demand.
Local tourism leaders have also been pushing summer travel from Mexican markets, a logical move when international traffic softens, and domestic routes are being added.
