Los Cabos Is The Fastest-Growing Mexican Destination

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Last Updated 2 years ago

Los Cabos was once again the second most visited city in Mexico in 2022. It came second only to Cancun, which saw around 8 million visitors reach its shores.

Cabo, for its part, saw under 4 million people arrive at the local airport. However, that number was 20% greater when compared to 2021. Each of the top 3 Mexico-based destinations is actually seeing better visitor numbers in the post-pandemic era than they did before COVID. 

According to FITURCA, the Los Cabos tourism board, reservations through the first 6 months of 2023 are 10% above what they saw at this same time last year. Just to put things into a greater perspective, the around 3.5 million people that visited Los Cabos in 2022 were an all-time record for the Pacific coast tourism destination.

That 20% yearly increase in the number of visitors makes Cabo the fastest-growing Mexican destination. What is perhaps better for Cabo is that it still has plenty of room to grow.  

What’s Bringing People To Los Cabos?

A lot of Mexican destinations did “decent numbers” compared to other spots around the world through the COVID-riddled 2020 and 2021 seasons. This was largely blamed on the lax COVID protocols that were in place in Mexico at the time. However, Los Cabos’ numbers continued to climb through 2022.

For many hotel chains, the high-end all-inclusive hotel model is a big reason for this. That’s why multiple chains are building new facilities with the intention of creating these high-end Cabo hotels that sell all-inclusive packages to guests. 

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Low prices aren’t necessarily one of the reasons that people are coming to Los Cabos. Currently, the average nightly rate at a Cabo hotel sits at right around 470 dollars. Authorities in Los Cabos claimed that they had no intention of lowering prices to accommodate student budgets for the upcoming Spring Break season.

Instead, they felt the destination should cater to higher-end tourism. Of course, there are still hotels that offer rooms at lower prices. Also, it’s important to remember that a lot of the rooms that are within that 470-dollar nightly rate are in all-inclusive resorts. 

The privacy that can be found in Los Cabos and the high-end amenities very well may be two of the key elements that bring people to the region. Many Hollywood A-listers and celebrities from across the globe vacation in Cabo for this reason. Finally, the proximity and the growing air travel routes, particularly from one of the US’ biggest markets in Southern California, is also a factor that has helped Cabo reach record numbers.       

The Destination Still Has Plenty of Room To Grow

The good news for Los Cabos and potentially for travelers who want to visit the region is that there’s still plenty of room to grow. In fact, there are many things that are happening currently that would suggest the destination is looking to increase arrival numbers even more.

For example, the Los Cabos international airport is getting ready to experience a major renovation which will add an entirely new terminal and 19 new gates to the existing terminal 2. This will drastically increase the airport’s capacity. The renovations to terminal 1, which are currently also taking place, are expected to be finished sometime this year, while the full expansion should be completed by around 2028. 

As previously stated, plenty of hotel chains are flocking to Los Cabos and creating new resort facilities. The fastest growing sector in the Los Cabos hotels’ landscape are the luxury resort options. Some of the top hotel brands in the world, like Four Seasons, Marriott, and others, are currently building new hotels in Los Cabos.

At the same time, other “independent” developers are also testing their luck in the Cabo market. This all adds up to a potential increase in the number of travelers visiting Los Cabos for years to come.