At the mid-point of 2025, there’s enough data on tourism in Los Cabos this year to illuminate some clear trends. The overarching one is that the destination continues to grow. No, it’s not showcasing the explosive growth that characterized the post-pandemic years after 2020, when Cabo San Lucas, San José del Cabo, and La Ruta Escénica (formerly known as the Tourist Corridor), which connects them, were recovering the visitors they had lost, and adding new ones at a record pace. Rather, it’s a steady yet nonetheless impressive growth.
I use the word impressive because if Los Cabos meets the projected 4.13 million tourists it’s on pace to receive this year — a highly likely outcome, considering it’s already halfway there — then not only will it have increased the number of tourists by 5% from the 3.93 million that arrived in 2024, and 7% from the 3.86 million in 2023, but it will have set a new record for annual visitors to the destination for the fourth straight year.
However, not all the trends this year are upward.
Hotel rates are lower in Los Cabos in 2025
For the first time in a very long time, the average hotel rate in Los Cabos has dropped, albeit not drastically so. Still, the $498 average daily rate registered in March 2025 was a significant 10% decrease from the $553 average daily rate only a year earlier, in March 2024; and in April 2025, the hotel rate dropped yet again, to $488.
Do these decreasing rates have anything to do with the slight increase in tourists? Probably not. Los Cabos’ conscious rebranding of itself as a tourist destination has been ongoing for a decade, and the destination’s record-breaking growth during that timeframe happened as hotel rates were continually rising. So there appears to be little to no correlation between tourism numbers and hotel rates, although for those who think Los Cabos has gotten too expensive, lower rates are certainly a welcome change.
What’s interesting, though, is that these rate decreases haven’t happened consistently across the board. In Cabo San Lucas, home to 9,474 hotel rooms (more than San José del Cabo and La Ruta Escénica combined), room rates haven’t decreased at all over the past year. Indeed, they’re up 5% to US $355 nightly on average. The biggest decrease in rates has occurred in San José del Cabo, where room rates are down by 18% relative to 2024 numbers, and are now positively bargain-like at $279 nightly. Room rates have also dropped by 6% in La Ruta Escênica, by far the most expensive area, decreasing to $665 per night on average.
Why? It likely has something to do with maintaining desired occupancy rates, as Cabo San Lucas was at 78% as of April 2025, compared to 70% for San José del Cabo and La Ruta Escénica. It might also have something to do with the larger number of domestic travelers.
Domestic travel to Los Cabos is up in 2025, while international travelers are slightly down
Through the first four months of 2025, domestic tourism was up 8.5%, accounting for nearly half a million visitors (463,200, to be exact). International tourism, on the other hand, was down slightly (0.4%) from the same period a year previously, although this segment still provided the bulk of visitors (913,000).
The origin proportion for travelers in 2025 (67.9% international, 32.1% domestic) represents quite well the number of airport destinations serving Los Cabos from the U.S. (32) versus those from within Mexico (16). But because the domestic flight destinations are double what they were a decade ago, that segment is providing a much bigger piece of the overall pie.
Domestically, Mexico City has the biggest market share, accounting for 35% of national visitors to Los Cabos, followed by Jalisco at 21%. Internationally, the U.S. continues to be the biggest market, with 37% of visitors to Los Cabos hailing from California. Canada, the second largest international market, has provided over 4.1% more travelers to Los Cabos in 2025, somewhat offsetting the 4.9% fewer from the U.S.
Big picture, as noted, tourism is up in Los Cabos by 5% in 2025. This is in contrast to Cancún, which dwarfs Los Cabos in overall numbers, but has seen a nearly 5% decrease in overall tourists arriving by air this year.
The return visitor rate to Los Cabos is up again, and it’s a significant marker
The return visitor rate to Los Cabos was 38% as of March 2025, close to the high-water mark for this stat (40% in 2021). It’s significant as it reflects the satisfaction level of visitors with the destination, but how significant is somewhat hard to tell, since so few destinations around the world track it (or at least report it).
Las Vegas is one of the few, and noted that 86% of its visitors were repeat visitors in 2024, versus only 14% first-timers. Los Cabos isn’t in that range, but since no other destinations in Mexico released repeat visitor figures in 2024, it may well be setting the standard domestically
Why does this matter? Because it’s reportedly 15 to 20 times more expensive to get new visitors than it is to retain old ones.
Los Cabos is doing well on wellness
In the past 25 years, Los Cabos hotels and resorts have increasingly competed with one another to provide the best spa and wellness options. There’s a reason for this: namely, that the world wellness market is now valued at over 650 billion dollars annually, a staggering number that is only expected to increase in the years to come.
In Los Cabos, about 18% of visitors report that wellness is an important part of their travel experience. That’s something those in the hospitality realm locally love to hear, since wellness-minded guests typically have a high satisfaction rate (about 91%) but spend $3,000 per trip on average, a number in line with the destination’s focus on luxury.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
