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Tourists love Los Cabos and Cancun. During the first quarter of the year, these two cities were the leaders among 12 different tourism markets tracked by the Mexico Federal Ministry of Tourism.
However, who came out the leader when the hotel occupancy was reviewed was a surprise and demonstrates the rivalry the two cities are quickly developing.
The Occupancy Leader
According to the official reporting from the Mexico Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marqués, the country had a fantastic first quarter of tourism with strong average hotel room occupancy in the nation’s key markets.
Coming out on top of all of the markets when it came to hotel occupancy during the quarter was actually Cabo San Lucas with an occupancy level of 83 percent for the first quarter of the year.
In second was Cancun at 81.8 percent, followed closely by Puerto Vallarta at 81.5 percent for the first quarter of 2024.
However, it should be noted that there is a difference between the number of rooms available in Los Cabos and the number available in Cancun.
Either way, it was a solid indication of how popular the beach resort location of Los Cabos is becoming among worldwide travelers.
Popularity of Los Cabos
Despite the record hotel room rates during the first quarter of the year in Los Cabos, tourists did not slow down when heading to the popular Mexican beach resort destination for a vacation getaway.
Los Cabos is continuing to grow in popularity with travelers from the United States and Canada. Recent efforts have also been made to foster airline connectivity with Europe and to add a new tourist base to the resort destination.
The pivot to luxury-style accommodations and amenities, as well as a continued focus on promoting Los Cabos as a wellness, sustainability, and nature destination, has continued to appeal to vacation travelers this year.
What The Future Holds
Expanding the flights to Los Cabos is essential to bringing more travelers to the beach resort destination.
However, issues related to the safety concerns and resulting backlog at Boeing along with the unrelated recall of engines by Pratt and Whitney has put that opportunity on hold for a while.
Travelers hoping for more direct flights to Los Cabos will have to wait. Also stalled was the anticipation of a nonstop Volaris flight from nearby La Paz to Los Angeles, which many hoped would help expand the flights for tourists without adding to the Los Cabos International Airport.
The only flight addition to Los Cabos that is currently on the schedule is a new seasonal flight to Frankfurt, Germany on Condor Airlines.
What Travelers Need to Know
Travelers to Los Cabos need to be prepared for the continued growth in popularity of the beach resort destination and what that means for tourists.
Typically, that means continued high demand for hotel rooms and vacation rental properties. With higher demand will be continued high rates for rooms.
Tourists are already noticing this year that what used to be the summer low season catering to more budget travelers really has not appeared so far. Room rates are holding firm, and last-minute affordable hotels are becoming very difficult for Los Cabos travelers to find.
With additional popularity will ultimately come more luxury accommodations and amenities. For example, several Los Cabos restaurants finally received their first Michelin Star designation.
Travelers will have to give up some of the sleepy beach town features they had in the past to enjoy what is only expected to become the truer beach resort destination of Los Cabos in the future.
What additional accommodations and amenities would you like to see added in the future as Los Cabos continues to grow in popularity with international travelers?
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