After a sluggish summer, Cancun’s air traffic managed to climb into positive territory with a late-2019 push. 

Mexico’s most popular destination reported a total of 25.48 million passengers in 2019, a 1.1 percent increase over the calendar year 2018. 

That was buoyed by a 1 percent increase in traffic in December, led by 2.7 percent growth in international traffic, according to new data from ASUR, which operates Cancun International Airport and eight other airports in Mexico. 

The late-2019 climb was an important step for Cancun and Mexico at large, which struggled this summer with declining tourism arrivals amid travelers’ worries about the security situation in the country — and a decision to dramatically reduce its tourism marketing strategy and instead point those funds toward infrastructure projects. 

Having said that, Cancun and the wider Mexican Caribbean continue to be one of the hottest destinations for hotel investment — particularly the sizzling Costa Mujeres area — meaning risk-takers continue to bet big on the future of the region.

– CJ