Los Cabos Airport Announces Plan To Cut Tourist Entry To 20 Seconds Or Less

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Last Updated 11 months ago

It’s always an exciting time for travelers headed to Los Cabos. After a flight over the border, excited tourists arrive at the Los Cabos International Airport ready to choose between hitting the beach, eating a great meal, or lounging by the pool at a fantastic Mexican resort.

Then they awake from the dream after getting off the plane and find themselves in a long line waiting for the entry process to Mexico.

However, plans are underway to streamline the process and get tourists on their way to enjoying their vacation in less time than it takes to fill out the Mexican entry form.

Tourist Entry in About 20 Seconds

The head of the Mexico National Institute of Migration, Manuel Salvador Cordero Esparza, recently announced that the airport is in the process of cutting the time needed to process admitting visitors to just seconds.

He estimated that the Los Cabos International Airport migration services department could cut the time for visitor entry at the Los Cabos airport down to 20 seconds at most.

This is due to a number of recent high-profile complaints from visitors about how long it takes to go through the migration process at the airport and the impact it has on customer experience.

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High Demand at the Airport

The Los Cabos International Airport is working to streamline the immigration process as it has become the third busiest airport in the entire country for international visitors in the first quarter of 2023.

More than 670,000 international tourists passed through the airport during the first three months of the year. A majority of those travelers were from the United States, with Canada a close second.

The high demand for international travel to the Los Cabos International Airport is expected to continue throughout the summer season, with additional flights from the Montreal airport recently announced by Air Canada.

How Will They Streamline the Process?

While every step of the streamlined process has not yet been announced, Cordero Esparza believes the 20-second goal can be achieved. Until that point, the government organization will strive to streamline the entry time as best it can.

However, he added that it would take additional modernization of the airport’s migration technology system to achieve the goal of 20 seconds or less.

Los Cabos International Airport has already made technological strides to proactively reduce the time needed for processing entry to Mexico.

The airport, and the federal government, have invested in electronic entry gates that speed up the entry process for many visitors. Although they have yet to be installed, they will completely change the game for Los Cabos Airport arrivals.

Many visitors with chip-enabled passports, of which most issued around the world are now this style, can simply place their passport on a glass reader, a picture is then taken to match with the passport, and the visitor is granted entry.

These types of e-readers are becoming standard around the world, especially in the European Union. They are replacing the old process of questioning by migration officers with an “official” entry stamp in the passport.

According to Cordero Esparza, more of these chip-enabled passport readers will soon be added at the Los Cabos International Airport, but the process enhancements will not be reliant on only the deployment of this technology.

What Does This Mean For Visitors?

While an exact timeframe for deployment of the new advanced migration system technology has yet to be announced, visitors should be encouraged that the process is underway.

Hopefully, within six to twelve months, new technology will be installed at the Los Cabos International Airport to help make entry to the country a breeze.

Then, finally, the dream of arriving by plane and speeding off to start a relaxing beach resort vacation out by the pool or sipping a drink lounging in the sand will soon become a reality for visitors.