Los Cabos Welcomes Nearly 5 Million Tourists As Destination Soars In Popularity

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Last Updated 7 months ago

New non-stop flights to the Los Cabos International Airport from Las Vegas and Kansas City in December helped push the traveler counts at one of the top airports in Mexico to nearly five million international passengers for the year.

Strong Travel Demand for Los Cabos

The official year-end final traveler numbers for the Los Cabos International Airport released last week showed more than 4.7 million international passengers used the airport last year.

That reflected a 6.9 percent increase over the 4.4 million international travelers from last year.

The passenger count benefited from a slight 1.4 percent increase in the fourth quarter of the year when 1.15 million travelers used the Los Cabos International Airport.

Overall, the total number of airline passengers using the Los Cabos International Airport, including domestic and international travelers, was 7.7 million tourists last year, which was an increase of 9.9% over last year.

La Paz Numbers Nearly Flat

At the La Paz International Airport, passenger counts increased 3.3 percent for the entire year to 1.1 million travelers using the airport facilities.

International traffic tanked in La Paz last year. It was down 46.2 percent year-over-year to only 13,900 travelers from around the world. It hosted 25,800 worldwide passengers in 2022.

Additional International Flights

The number of international travelers at the Los Cabos International Airport is expected to continue to grow again this year.

That is especially after the recent announcement of seasonal nonstop service between Los Cabos and Frankfurt, Germany from Condor Airlines starting in November.

Other than that, the only other international flight scheduled to start for Los Cabos International Airport is a Southwest Airlines flight from St. Louis.

The Future is Murky

However, beyond those additions, the international flight schedule at Los Cabos is a little questionable this year.

Last week, Frontier Airlines ended service to Los Cabos, although it only accounted for one flight from Denver.

The lingering issue facing Spirit Airlines, Volaris, and Viva Aerobus from the ongoing recall and repairs related to the Pratt & Whitney engine issue could cause delays from those carriers for additional nonstop international flights and routes.

It most likely already led to a delay in the long-anticipated renewal of nonstop flights to the United States from the La Paz International Airport.

A couple of months ago, the airport said it was in talks with Volaris to start nonstop flights between La Paz and Los Angeles International Airport. That is now assumed to be on hold.

What Travelers Need to Know

It’s definitely good to see strong demand for flights to Los Cabos. The continued demand for flights will mean that airlines will see it as a potential additional flight opportunity to drive revenue for the airline.

However, technical issues that airlines are facing threaten the addition of additional flights and routes that were expected once Mexico obtained its class-one airline safety rating early last year.

The future is still bright for additional flights for travelers to choose from to spend a vacation getaway in Los Cabos. However, this is for visitors from countries other than the United States.

While Los Cabos Tourism Trust officials would love flights to and from destinations such as San Antonio, Texas, they have set their sights across the pond.

The new nonstop flight from Frankfurt, Germany is an example of the Los Cabos Tourist Trust and the Los Cabos International Airport diversifying its traveler base away from North America towards Europe.

It is definitely a smart move to look to Europe for additional travelers seeking a vacation getaway to one of the top beach resort destinations in the entire country.

Although, it does not help those of us in North America.