Even in a traditionally slow time of year in the Caribbean, one airport continues to post blazing tourism growth: Cancun. 

The Mexican Caribbean hotspot has seen dramatic growth in 2022, particularly in the second half of the year, as passenger traffic at Cancun International Airport keeps posting significant growth, both over 2021 and, importantly, 2019 numbers. 

In November, Cancun reported passenger traffic of 2.594 million, a 16.4 percent increase over November last year, and, more notably, a 27.1 percent increase over the same month in 2019. 

For the year, passenger traffic in Cancun has posted a sensational growth rate of 18.2 percent compared to the first 10 months of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic, with a total of 27.408 million so far this year. (This year’s total is also 38 percent ahead of last year at this time). 

The numbers were released by ASUR, or Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, the Mexican company that manages a collection of airports in Mexico, Colombia and Puerto Rico’s Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. 

The comparison with Puerto Rico, which has seen excellent traffic growth over the last two years, makes Cancun’s surge even more notable. 

Puerto Rico, for example, is reporting passenger traffic of 9.31 million in San Juan this year — at 9.4 percent compared to 2019, that is about half the growth rate witnessed in Cancun.