International tourism via Mexico’s airports continued to increase in the first six months of the year, with Canadian visitors flocking to the country at an accelerated rate, according to a report issued by Mexico’s Tourism Ministry (Sectur).
During the first half of the year, 23.4 million international tourists entered the country via airplane, a 7.3% increase over the same period of 2024. Of that figure, nearly 2 million visitors came from Canada.
While the United States continues to lead in the number of international air arrivals to Mexico with 7.36 million between January and June, Canada’s second-place total of 1.68 million visitors for the half-year marked an annual increase of 11.8%.
Other international markets contributed 1.77 million tourists from over 230 countries.
Demonstrating increasing flight accessibility, from January through June, the number of tourists arriving by plane surpassed 11 million for the first time.
San Miguel, Ensenada and more: These are the five new airports Mexico is planning to build
“These results are a solid foundation for continued growth,” said Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez Zamora. “With the launch of new international flights, we are confident that the arrival of foreign tourists will continue to increase, generating more opportunities for Mexico’s economic and social development.”
President Claudia Sheinbaum hopes to position Mexico within the world’s top five most-visited tourist destinations as part of her Plan México national development project, announced in January.
Why more Canadians prefer Mexico to the US
Not coincidentally, the uptick in Canadian visitors to Mexico coincided with a boycott by many Canadians of traveling to the United States as a reaction to the ongoing trade war between the two countries and the perceived hostility of U.S. authorities toward Canadians.
In the first half of the year, visitor arrivals from Canada to the U.S. fell by around 33.1% by car and roughly 22.1% by air, according to Canada’s national statistics agency.
Many Canadians who typically visit states such as California and Florida during the colder months are now opting for alternative Mexican destinations, such as the Baja California peninsula, Nayarit and the Riviera Maya.
The Bajío state of Jalisco, in particular, is using the shift in tourism trends to attract more Canadian tourists, with the opening of several new flight routes.
“The United States, all things considered, has a serious problem in the tourism sector; that’s why [Guadalajara] went from two flights to Canada to five flights to Canada; obviously, the ones we see as least willing to go to the United States are Canadian tourists, and they’re relatively close to us.”
In May, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) announced plans to launch two new flight routes by the end of the year — between Guadalajara and Montreal, operated by Air Transat, and Guadalajara-Toronto, operated by Air Canada. A new WestJet route is also in the works for Guadalajara-Calgary.
The three new routes add to the two existing Flair Airlines routes — Guadalajara-Vancouver and Guadalajara-Toronto — which launched in May and September 2024, respectively. From Puerto Vallarta, Canadian tourists can fly direct to Montreal, Calgary and in the winter months, Toronto.
With reports from Forbes México, Real Estate Market & Lifestyle, La Crónica de Hoy, El Economista and Forbes
