Riviera Maya Hotel Occupancy Plunges to 36% in October 2026

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Hotel occupancy across the Riviera Maya fell to between 36.04 and 44.37 percent during the first week of October 2026, a steep decline from the 70 percent recorded in the first half of 2025, according to data from the Quintana Roo Tourism Department.

Tourism workers say the drop is the most severe the destination has seen in at least three years. The artisan sector has also reported losses as fewer visitors walk the area’s streets and beaches.

Occupancy Has Been Falling Since 2024

Tour guide Julio Pedroza said the Riviera Maya’s hotel occupancy has been trending downward since 2024, a pattern few in the industry noticed at first, and that the decline accelerated as violence began to affect the region. In September, occupancy stood at 59.6 percent — the lowest level recorded along the tourism corridor that year, he said.

Fellow guide Andrés Soto said occupancy had not suffered such a critical drop in the past three years as it has in 2026. The problem began after reports of criminal violence, he said, adding that it remains unclear what will happen in the coming months given pressure to raise taxes on foreign tourism.

Data from the Riviera Maya Hotel Association shows the destination closed 2023 at 77 percent occupancy, a record year for recovery and tourism growth in which the region welcomed 4.6 million guests. Occupancy topped 90 percent during key periods, including the second half of February and the peak weeks of the winter 2023 holidays.

Pedroza said difficult times had been visible since 2024, even though few believed it at the time, as occupancy data kept pointing downward. In 2025 the destination failed to match the visitor numbers of 2024, and fell even further behind 2023.

“It is clear that the climate of violence hit the destination, and this year sargassum was another blow,” Soto said, noting that uncertainty persists because the segment depends economically on high-spending foreign visitors.

Workers and Artisans Bear the Brunt

Soto said hotel, restaurant and artisan workers are the hardest hit, as they are laid off when revenues fall. He warned that a proposed tax increase on foreign tourism could deal another blow to the destination, since international travelers may look for places in the world where they pay less to travel.

Artisan vendor Moisés Álvarez said the tourism decline had been coming as workers felt harassed by drug sellers. Shootings that occurred on Fifth Avenue at the time created unease, and government authorities ignored what he described as a cancer, he said.

Álvarez said many artisans left Playa del Carmen after being harassed by criminal groups. “Today we live in a paradise of fear,” he said.