Amid concerns about occupancy rates falling below 60%, there is a significant number resorts & hotels in Cancun are offering nightly rates as low as $9, up to 70% less than summer. But why does this happen?
Several reasons. As vacations in northern countries like the United States and Canada come to an end, the destination is receiving far fewer visitors in the first place.
But we’re afraid this isn’t the only reason. According to official data, the destination has seen a steady decline in arrivals in 2024.
According to experts, this is explained by the opening of Tulum’s new Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport (TQO) nine months ago, which has had a direct impact on the number of tourists arriving directly into the city.
With 2.3 million inbound passengers in August, Cancun International Airport (CUN) saw a 14.1 percent decline in visitor numbers compared to the same month last year.
Over the summer, hotels in otherwise high-demand destinations like Isla Mujeres saw a drop in arrivals of up to 15 percent, according to the Association of Hotels of Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres.
Between January and August, Cancun experienced an overall decline in air passenger numbers of 5.5 percent – a figure that continues to grow.
A few weeks ago, local authorities urged hoteliers to launch aggressive marketing campaigns with reduced accommodation prices to avoid the closure of establishments during autumn, which is already a difficult season for the sector.
In response to this Popular travel platforms such as Booking, Kayak PriceTravel, Trivago and the powerful Expedia now offer hotel rooms at discounts ranging from 10% to 70%.
This translates to travelers who can do this to find rooms from $9 at standard properties, and from $90 at all-inclusive resorts, where prices don’t normally dip below $140 per night per person.
The deals don’t stop at room rates, which are probably the biggest expense when traveling abroad. Some hotels have gone a step further, offering free airport to hotel shuttles, free theme park tickets and even welcome dinners at no extra cost.
These generous and unusual offers are caused by the alarmingly low hotel occupancy rates reported by the Quintana Roo Tourism Secretariat, where we can see that Isla Mujeres 61.2%, Puerto Morelos 51.2%, Costa Mujeres 69.8%, Tulum 67.8 % and Cancun reached 63.9%. , Riviera Maya 63.7%, Cozumel 43.1% and Costa Maya a disastrous 39%.
According to Jesús Almaguer Salazar, president of the Association of Hotels of Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres (AHCPIM), offers such as those mentioned above are common during the shoulder season, because “They help overcome the low season, which is now more difficult because the summer was not as profitable as we expected.”
While these statistics may look a bit negative, this actually presents a unique opportunity for travelers who have long wanted to cross Cancun off their bucket list but have been unable to do so due to the insanely high prices. But hurry! Estimates indicate that numbers will stabilize by November, causing prices to rise again.