Mexico passed a kind of milestone in September when the airport of the country’s largest coastal town, Cancun, surpassed pre-pandemic passenger traffic.
The Airports of the Southeast Group, which operates the terminal in the Caribbean coastal town, announced Wednesday that they handled 1.66 million passengers in Cancun in September, 4.4 percent more than in the same month of 2019.
By January 2020, the coronavirus pandemic had drastically reduced passenger numbers, and as of September 2020 only about 854,000 passengers were using the airport.
It is unclear, but very likely, that the number of passengers at Cancun Airport for all of 2021 could reach or exceed the 2019 annual number.
Mexico has never introduced quarantine or testing requirements for incoming passengers, in part so as not to detract from the country’s tourism revenue.
In June, the resort town of Cozumel, south of Cancun, welcomed the first arrival of a cruise ship with passengers since the pandemic essentially collapsed that industry.
The Mexico City Youth Institute began using Mexico’s famous masked wrestlers in Latin America’s largest wholesale market to enforce mask wear and social distancing in the fight against COVID-19.
The resorts of Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are located in the state of Quintana Roo. The state depends on tourism for 87% of its economic activity.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that tourists are drawn to Mexico’s Caribbean resorts, in part because there has been no lockdown and health precautions are largely voluntary. Many visitors take off their masks when they reach their hotels or beach clubs.
The state saw a spike in COVID-19 cases in the spring, partly related to increased travel over the Easter week, and in part cuts were made in businesses like hotels and restaurants to stem the surge, which has since declined.
Mexico has never enforced a strict European-style lockdown.
Resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean are now searching for COVID tests for American tourists
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