Mexico passed a milestone of sorts in September when the airport at the country’s biggest coastal resort, Cancun, surpassed pre-pandemic levels of passengers.
The Airports of the Southeast group, which runs the terminal
at the Caribbean coast resort, said Wednesday it 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 cut pasenger
numbers drastically, and only about 854,000 passengers used the airport in
September 2020.
It is unclear, but highly possible, that passenger levels at
the Cancun airport for all of 2021 could equal or exceed the 2019 annual
number.
Mexico never instituted any quarantine or testing
requirements for incoming passengers, in part to avoid affecting the country’s
tourism income.
In June, the resort of Cozumel, south of Cancun, welcomed
the first arrival of a cruise ship carrying passengers since the pandemic
essentially collapsed that industry.
Quintana Roo state is home to the resorts of Cancún, Playa
del Carmen and Tulum. The state depends on tourism for 87% of its economic
activity.
Anecdotal evidence suggests tourists are attracted to
Mexico’s Caribbean resorts in part because there has been no lockdown and
health precautions are largely voluntary. Many visitors shed their masks when
they reach their hotels or beach clubs.
The state saw an upsurge in COVID-19 cases in the spring, in
part linked to increased travel around Easter week, and partial reductions at
businesses like hotels and restaurants were implemented to stem the surge,
which has since declined.
Mexico has never enforced a strict, European-style lockdown. -AP