While the world continues to be plagued by economic shutdowns, border closures and travel bans, Cancun has defied all the odds.
As most airlines continue to cancel flights around the world due to low demand, it's the opposite in Cancun.
Airlines are scrambling to take advantage of Cancun becoming one of the top tourists destinations in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cancun tourism is skyrocketing and its going to continue to dominate right through the end of the year as Europe looks to add more connectivity.
Cancun Tourism Numbers Show Strong Recovery
Cancun has seen a strong recovery since it's record low arrivals in May of this year.
According to ASUR who manages 11 airports in Southeast Mexico, Cancun saw over 44,000 international passengers in June when the city reopened for tourism.
By August, that number ballooned to 297,389 international passengers arriving and departing through the Cancun International airport. An additional 522,000 domestic passengers were registered at the airport in August bringing the grand total of passengers to 819,365 for the month.
According to tourism analytics, hotel occupancy has rebounded from 5.7% in May to 23.7% by July. Cancun had its hotel occupancy limited to 30% as the city continued to battle the pandemic but in a recent announcement by the Governor of Quintana Roo, the city has a reduced risk of COVID-19 transmission and the epidemiological light was dropped from ‘orange' to ‘yellow'.
This allows for hotels to increase their room occupancy to 60% under the COVID-19 yellow risk rating.
Hotel occupancy is expected to rise as Cancun will soon enter high season from November through March as Americans and Canadians flock to the tropical destination to escape the cold winter months.
Cancun Has Easy Entry Requirements
Travel Off Path has witnessed the frustration travelers have had with COVID-19 entry requirements around the world. Our travel community is constantly battling what seems like never ending changes to entry requirements that can take the fun right out of travel.
COVID-19 entry requirements in many countries include invasive COVID-19 swab tests with strict timing deadlines, harsh quarantines and self isolation periods and even lists of banned countries that change weekly.
When it comes to Cancun, Mexico, travelers have rejoiced knowing there will be no surprises on arrival.
There are no COVID-19 entry requirements for Mexico giving travelers the ability to arrive in Cancun without the worry of being denied entry.
With the popularity of Cancun, flight connectivity has been constantly increasing meaning there is less of a chance of travelers flights being cancelled right before their vacation.
Europe and the United States Increasing Flights to Cancun
According to Cancun officials, more flights from the United States and Europe will begin in October. As it stands now, the Cancun International Airport sees over 200 flights per day and will increase the number throughout October and November.
According to the Cancun Airline Committee the following flights have been announced from overseas:
- Lufthansa will resume flights from Frankfurt to Cancun as of October 1, operating Thursdays and Saturdays.
- Edelweiss Air will resume its direct flight from Zurich to Cancun starting October 3, once weekly.
- AirFrance says that it will resume its Paris to Cancun route in October with three flights per week, then in November with five flights per week followed by daily flights in December.
- British Airlines said they will also resume flights from London in October.
United States Flights To Cancun Increasing
According to the Cancun Airline Committee the following flights have been announced from the United States:
- Jet Blue – four routes starting on November 19, with two daily flights from Newark and daily flights from LAX, Raleigh-Durham and Tampa.
- Alaska Airlines – 3 routes will be added daily from San Diego, Portland and Seattle.
Cancun was one of the first cities in the world to reopen its doors for international tourism back in June and so far, the future looks bright for the tropical destination as demand for hotels and flights continues to grow.
Next door in the Yucatan, the famous Chichen Itzá archaeological site in has officially reopened for tourism.
The Chichen Itzá archaeological site will be open daily from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm and will be limited to 3000 people. The cut off for tourists to enter the site will be at 4:00 pm
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Sara
Friday 25th of September 2020
We luvvvvvvv Cancun!!!!! We go on a regular basis. It’s beautiful!!! And , the food is great 😊💕💕💕 also, the country is very sophisticated in its handling of this epedemic . Every where that you go, you have to clean your shoes with alcohol, they put sanitizer on your hands , clean all rails and everything constantly!!! They take your temperature. And, there are bottles of sanitizers everywhere!!
Kashlee Kucheran
Friday 25th of September 2020
So nice to hear! :)
Stephen
Monday 21st of September 2020
My wife and I traveled to Cancun from August 29 to September 5 and had a fantastic time. The hotel where we stayed did an amazing job both with following social distancing/sanitizing protocols and with incredible guest service. I want to take this opportunity to thank Kashlee and Trevor for keeping us informed about Mexico's status during the pandemic. It was one of the few countries we could visit and we deeply appreciate all your efforts on behalf of travelers like us.
Kashlee Kucheran
Monday 21st of September 2020
That is so great Stephen! :) Thank you so much and we are so happy we provided helpful information so you could have a great trip!