Growing Tourist Demand Leading To Blackouts In Los Cabos And Nearby Destinations

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Last Updated 1 year ago

Tourists have been flocking to Los Cabos this year as the popularity of the beach resort destination is set to break visitor records.

The demand has helped the Los Cabos International Airport vie with its southern vacation rival in Puerto Vallarta for the third most popular international airport in the entire country.

The rapid growth has unfortunately tested the limits of the infrastructure in Los Cabos to accommodate the visitor traffic.

Everything from the tourist zone services to the highways have been pushed to the limits.

Unfortunately for visitors to Los Cabos, now the electric grid has been stressed to its capacity, buckling under the demand of a record heat wave in Mexico.

Blackouts in Los Cabos

According to the Federal Electricity Commission, a demand of 635 megawatts is expected in the Los Cabos area this year. Well within the capacity of 697 megawatts with a reserve of 10 percent.

During 2022, the peak demand was only 595 megawatts.

Despite this upbeat report, there have been power outages of more than 30 minutes already affecting tourists in Los Cabos, La Paz, and Loreto in Baja California Sur.

According to the federal agency, the blackouts are not the fault of insufficient power production, even during a record heat wave in the area.

They are instead the fault of a lack of investment upgrades to the power distribution system.

However, it could also impact the availability of fresh water for visitors to Los Cabos.

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Lack of Fresh Water

Much of the Los Cabos area relies on a desalination process to remove salt from seawater and make it drinkable for residents and tourists.

This process is very energy intensive and requires electricity for the operations of the machines and filters for the water.

Without electricity, these machines shut down. They also take time to power up when the electricity returns.

During the time of the blackouts in Los Cabos, the desalination process can’t operate, and the supply of fresh water to tourists is lessened. Many hotels have backup water supplies, however.

What Can Tourists Do?

The worst part is all of these issues affect tourism and the guest experience right when Los Cabos is trying to shift its image from a Mexico beach town to a luxury resort destination for upscale travelers.

This is not exactly the image that Los Cabos wants to display to attract this new demanding level of upscale and influential tourist base.

Nonetheless, tourists should expect that power outages will continue to impact their Los Cabos visit for the foreseeable future.

The United States Climate Prediction Center has only given a 50-50 chance that the current historic heat wave impacting Los Cabos will break by July 11.

The good news is that some resorts actually have backup water supplies and electric power generators in place as part of their hurricane preparation plans.

Visitors to Los Cabos should contact their resort in advance of traveling to Los Cabos to confirm that a backup water and electric supply system is in place during their stay in the beach resort destination.

They may also want to investigate commercial trip interruption insurance to cover the impact that the power supply issue may have on delays during their vacation stay in Los Cabos.