Cancun Airport Sees International Tourism Rebound After 17-Month Decline

Cancun, Quintana Roo — Cancun International Airport has broken a 17-month streak of declining international tourism, reporting a 2.7% increase in foreign passenger arrivals in February, driven primarily by visitors from the United States and Canada.

According to reports from Southeast Airports (ASUR), approximately 3.8 million tourists arrived on international flights to Cancun in the first two months of 2026. The airport had maintained a consecutive downward trend in this category until the end of 2025, but the first two months of this year have broken that negative streak. Officials anticipate tourism will continue to increase with the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

The United States is the primary market, accounting for 36.6% of total travelers to the destination, followed by Canada at 10.9%, and the United Kingdom in third place with 2.4%. The remaining travelers are distributed among Argentina, Colombia, Spain, France, Germany, and Chile, which round out the top 10 sources of tourism for the Mexican Caribbean.

Bernardo Cueto Riestra, the state Secretary of Tourism, said expectations are high for this year as the World Cup approaches. He noted that many soccer fans will enter Mexico through Cancun to enjoy the tournament, which should maintain or even increase current hotel occupancy rates and high air traffic activity.

For the period ending in February, the average hotel occupancy rate remained at 85.4%. The Quintana Roo Tourism Department reported an approximate influx of 574,706 tourists in a single week. At the close of the first two months of the year, the airport recorded 707 flight operations in a single day, reflecting high activity and a constant flow of visitors to the state.

Domestically, the terminal moved 1.3 million travelers in the first two months of the year, compared to 1.5 million in the same period the previous year. It still carries a negative differential of 8% in domestic passengers, keeping it at -0.3% from recovering the volumes moved in the same period last year.

The combined total for both international and domestic passengers is 5.2 million in the first two months of 2026, compared to 5.2 million the previous year. The decimal difference between the two years is just 17,440 passengers, meaning passenger traffic at the start of the year is very close to surpassing last year’s records and aiming to resume a growth trend.