Vacation Rentals in Tulum Now Equal 50% of Its Lodging Supply

Tulum, Quintana Roo — Tulum’s vacation rental market has reached a difficult turning point, with short-term rentals now making up a major share of the destination’s lodging supply just as visitor demand has softened.

According to industry data cited by José Manuel Lozano Álvarez, president of the Association of Vacation Rental Managers, known as APAR, Tulum now has 5,119 active vacation rental units. That places it third in Quintana Roo behind Cancún and Playa del Carmen.

The number is significant because Tulum’s traditional hotel inventory is listed at 11,993 rooms across 239 hotels, according to the Quintana Roo Tourism Secretariat. In other words, vacation rentals now represent nearly half the size of Tulum’s hotel-room inventory, creating a crowded market for visitors, owners, managers, developers, and hotels alike.

Lozano Álvarez said Tulum has become a cautionary example for the vacation rental model. After years of rapid growth, high returns, and investor enthusiasm, the destination is now dealing with the combined effects of oversupply, high prices, weaker occupancy, security concerns, transportation complaints, beach-access frustration, and heavy sargassum arrivals. The downturn, he said, began about three years ago and became much more visible in 2025.

The numbers tell part of the story. Tulum vacation rentals currently average about 2,200 pesos per night, with many stays lasting between two and five days. That price point may have worked during the destination’s boom years, when Tulum’s image as a stylish, eco-chic escape attracted music festivals, wellness travelers, digital nomads, luxury tourists, and real estate investors. But the market has changed.

Travelers now have more options across the Mexican Caribbean, and many are more sensitive to the overall cost of a trip. In Tulum, the nightly rate is only one piece of the final bill. Visitors also weigh taxis, beach access, restaurant prices, park entrance fees, sargassum conditions, and the general ease or difficulty of moving around the destination. For some travelers, the math no longer works.

That is the deeper problem facing Tulum. The destination did not simply add vacation rentals. It built an entire real estate narrative around them. Studios, lofts, jungle condos, and investment apartments were sold to buyers with the promise of strong short-term rental income. In many cases, these units were not designed primarily for local residents or long-term community needs. They were designed for visitors, platforms, and investors.

Now, with more than 100 real estate projects reportedly still under development, the pressure is likely to continue. More inventory entering the market could push rates down, increase competition, and leave weaker properties struggling to stand out.

The hotel sector has raised similar concerns. Hotels operate under stricter requirements, including staffing, permits, safety standards, tax obligations, and public-facing service expectations. Vacation rentals have been harder to regulate, creating tension between traditional lodging providers and short-term rental platforms.

At the same time, the vacation rental sector is not the only cause of Tulum’s slowdown. The destination’s challenges are broader. Reports from 2025 showed hotel occupancy falling sharply compared with the previous year, while local businesses pointed to sargassum, high prices, reduced air connectivity, taxi fare disputes, beach-access controversies, security concerns, and the changing visitor experience.

Tulum’s brand also became a victim of its own success. The same qualities that made it famous, music, beach clubs, wellness, exclusivity, and a certain curated bohemian glamour, also made it expensive and, for some travelers, exhausting. What once felt different began to feel overbuilt, overpriced, and harder to navigate.

Lozano Álvarez linked part of Tulum’s rise to the electronic music festival boom, which brought high-spending visitors and international attention. But that boom also accelerated development, speculation, and a party-destination image that did not always serve the wider community.

Still, APAR sees some reason for hope. The Tulum International Airport, which began operations in late 2023 and added international flights in 2024, could help the destination recover if connectivity improves and the market adjusts. Better air access gives Tulum another chance to attract visitors directly, rather than relying only on travelers arriving through Cancún. But an airport alone will not solve the problem.

The lesson from Tulum is increasingly clear: growth without planning eventually becomes expensive. For a vacation rental market to be healthy, it needs more than new buildings and professional photos. It needs infrastructure, fair regulation, reliable transportation, public beach access, environmental management, realistic pricing, security, and a destination experience that visitors feel is worth the cost.

Tulum is not finished. It remains one of the best-known destinations in Mexico and still has extraordinary natural and cultural appeal. But the easy-money phase of the vacation rental boom appears to be over.

What comes next will depend on whether the destination can shift from speculation to sustainability, and from selling the idea of Tulum to actually improving the experience of being there.