Hotel occupancy in Quintana Roo falls to 64.4% this May amid airline route cancellations and reduced frequencies, prompting industry calls for stronger “Mexico Brand” promotion and new market development.
Hotel reservations across the Mexican Caribbean are facing an unprecedented downturn, with average occupancy in May dipping to just 64.4%, down from 75.1% a year earlier, according to the region’s reservation ledger. As the critical summer season approaches, hoteliers and tour operators warn that ongoing seat cuts and outright cancellations of international flights threaten to derail the sector’s recovery.
Local family-run hotels on Isla Mujeres have already slipped into what would ordinarily be the low season, registering occupancies below 10%. “Tourism is the only engine of our economy; if tourists don’t arrive, all other sectors suffer,” said one veteran Isla Mujeres innkeeper.
Industry representatives point to a mix of factors driving the decline: growing competition from alternative Caribbean and Central American destinations, a lingering negative safety image, insufficient institutional promotion, and a scarcity of available seats on key air routes. “The lack of a consistent ‘Mexico Brand’ campaign and stronger investment by the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council to cultivate new markets and sustain our presence in established source markets is one of the main reasons for this slump,” explained a Cancún-based hotelier.
Air connectivity woes have added to the malaise. In April, Avianca confirmed it will suspend its direct Bogotá–Tulum service effective July 3, 2025, with July 1 marking its final flight. That route, inaugurated in December 2024 as a fresh conduit for South American travelers, will now cease after just seven months of operation. Meanwhile, Air Canada has announced significant schedule cuts to Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport for the upcoming winter season, trimming flights from Montreal from five to three per week and axing new routes from Ottawa and Quebec. Only the Toronto–Riviera Maya link will remain at its current four-weekly-flight frequency.
Observers note that Tulum airport’s failure to sustain airline incentive programs beyond its initial six months of operation contributed to the rout. When the subsidies ended, multiple carriers diverted capacity back to Cancún or abandoned the market entirely.
The knock-on effect on arrival statistics has been clear: between January and March 2025, Mexican airports received 3.9 million U.S. tourists—2 percent fewer than in the same period of 2024—underscoring the impact of reduced service on major beach destinations such as Cancún and Puerto Vallarta.
“The contraction in U.S. visitor numbers is not surprising, but it is certainly unwelcome,” said Francisco Madrid, director of the Advanced Research Center in Sustainable Tourism. “Beach destinations are bearing the brunt of diminished airlift from North America.”
With the summer season looming and room rates under pressure, stakeholders are urging federal and state authorities to expedite a coordinated promotional push—both domestically and abroad—to reposition the Mexican Caribbean as a competitive and safe leisure choice. Proposed measures include reinstating targeted airline incentives, launching a refreshed international marketing campaign under the “Mexico Brand” banner, and diversifying source markets beyond the traditional U.S. and Canadian feeder regions.
As Quintana Roo’s tourism businesses brace for a potentially sluggish summer, many hope that policy interventions and renewed marketing impetus can reverse the slide before it deepens further into the high season.
