Despite the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic, visitor numbers to Quintana Roo approached 2019 levels last year.

Quintana Roo Tourism Minister Andrés Aguilar told a press conference that 12.5 million tourists visited the Caribbean coast state in 2021, a figure equivalent to 84% of the 15 million visitors in 2019.

About 57% of the visitors — 7.1 million people — were international tourists.

Last year’s total visitor numbers well and truly exceeded those of 2020, when just 8 million people traveled here.

Aguilar said that the state — home to popular destinations such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum — is recovering quickly from the pandemic-induced tourism downturn and predicted that visitor numbers will exceed 15 million in 2022.

There are 116 air routes into Quintana Roo, the tourism minister said, adding that there are direct flights to Cancún from 48 cities in the United States, 13 in South America, 13 in Europe, eight in Canada and 20 in other Mexican states.

Other domestic and international flights arrive in Chetumal, the state capital, and Cozumel, an island off the coast of Playa del Carmen.

Aguilar also said there were 116,820 hotel rooms in Quintana Roo at the end of October, an increase of over 1,800 compared to the start of 2021. Some 200 hotels with approximately 17,000 rooms have been built in the state over the past three years.

With reports from El Economista