Hoteliers Bet on Winter to Rescue Tourism in Quintana Roo

Cancun, Quintana Roo — Hoteliers in the Mexican Caribbean are shifting their promotional efforts to the winter season and even to 2027 after a summer that fell short of expectations.

Rodrigo de la Peña, president of the Association of Hotels of Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres, acknowledged that cuts in airline seats by U.S. carriers to reinforce domestic routes have hurt the region during the World Cup. As a result, the sector is looking ahead and strengthening plans for the next winter season and summer 2027.

“The important thing is that we are already implementing actions not only for winter, which is our peak season, but also actions that will pay off so that next year we have a better summer,” de la Peña said.

He explained that despite significant initiatives to position Cancun as a World Cup hub, results were limited. “We launched very important initiatives to try to make Cancun a hub. We have seen some results. However, international airlines, especially American ones, have shifted internally. So the seat base has become a factor that has hit us. We are at around 60-65% occupancy, which we always consider a negative figure compared to other years,” he detailed.

The hotel leader noted that despite an increase in room supply, occupancy has remained below expectations. “With more rooms, as I have mentioned, we had our assembly on Thursday, which was attended by the Secretary of Tourism, Bernardo Cueto, and he gave a broad explanation of all the factors that have influenced this difficult summer,” he added.

De la Peña was optimistic about the year-end outlook. He said things look better for the second half of the year, specifically winter and the start of 2027, with advance bookings already above 60%.

The sector is working individually and collectively to avoid a rate war. “What all hotels are doing individually and collectively, the CPTQ will reinforce efforts to try not to fall into a rate war, which benefits no one, and to maintain our quality standards and service,” he said.