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Los Cabos Tourists Frustrated With Long Wait Times At Airport

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Dozens of tourists waited for several hours at San José Airport in Los Cabos to complete their immigration procedures before being able to exit the building.

The luggage delivery system was also extremely slow, taking hours to return tourists their belongings. Several people are now complaining, asking the local authorities to take action. 

The accident happened last Saturday 2nd, December, but it seems to be a recurrent event. 

Vehicles Outside of Los Cabos International Airport

One of the airport guards reported that this is often the case on Saturdays, declaring: “On Sundays not so much, but on Saturdays it is full because of the timeshares, there are many tourists who come that day.” 

What tourists say

Commenting on the issue, Jennifer Arrow declared: “We spent almost two hours waiting for the line to move, then the bags from our flight did not pass through the conveyor and were joined with those from another flight, and it was horrible. The place is beautiful, but its airport does not give a good welcome.”

San José del Cabo, view of the city and the sea on a cloudy day

Another tourist staying in one of the popular resorts in Los Cabos’ tourist corridor agreed, stating: “The worst moment for us was on a Saturday in January 2020, they had to turn off the escalators that went down to immigration because it was full downstairs and people were being crushed trying to get down.”

Other visitors declared that they prefer to travel on weekdays to avoid the massive crowds causing delays. 

Yacht approaching Chileno Beach on a clear sea

Local authorities now have to face the challenge of making sure San José Airport will be able to receive more tourists as this year Los Cabos is expected to break all records, welcoming over 4 million tourists

Other main concerns 

But long waiting times at San José Airport are not the only concern among tourists. 

According to recent data, the main reason for concerns among Los Cabos travelers is transportation. This is due to several reasons, such as the conditions of Los Cabos’ roads and main highway. 

Playa del Divorcio, in Los Cabos on a sunny day

Potholes in the municipality are not rare, and street lights are often out of service, causing chaos and congestion. 

But not everything can be blamed on the Los Cabos government. Several articles reported how locals tend to ignore speed limits and drive recklessly, often causing accidents. 

Several new measures have now been put in place to limit the number of crashes regularly happening in Los Cabos, among which higher fines for drivers and lower speed limits. 

Beach Full Of Trash And Weeds

Another main reason for concern is the amount of trash often found on Los Cabos’ beaches and streets. 

This is mainly due to the fact that the municipality of Los Cabos doesn’t have enough trash bins to welcome the huge numbers of tourists coming to this destination every year.

Not knowing where to throw their waste, tourists and locals alike tend to simply leave it on the street.

Sewage Leak On Local Street

Commenting on this issue, the President of the Colonos del Médano Association, Ricardo Araoz stated: “As the garbage bins are very far away people throw the garbage in the streams (…) but when it rains it comes to the sea and we, together with the ZOFEMAT workers, the city council and those who work on the beach, collect it. But there is too much garbage. We have gone so far as to collect refrigerators and mattresses. We found all of that on the beach.”

Lastly, visitors tend to complain about the frequent sewage spills. Nobody wants to pay hundreds of dollars for a hotel room to be unable to walk outside of its resort due to the wastewater. 

Stunning rock formation in the water, near Los Cabos

“The biggest complaint from tourists is that (..) they pay so much for a hotel but they have to walk through sewage in the center or garbage on the beach. Inside the hotels, the facilities are first class but the town itself doesn’t have the same image,” commented Ricardo Araoz.

Los Cabos is constantly working on several initiatives to clean local beaches and streets but more needs to be done before the image of this municipality finally matches the high-end resorts found in the area. 

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