Cozumel, the largest island in the Mexican Caribbean, will have a historic start to the year in terms of tourist arrivals with close to 120,000 cruise ship passengers arriving in the first week of 2025, according to estimates by Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama.

Lezama said that 34 cruise ships are expected to arrive on the island between Dec. 30 to Jan. 5, totaling 119,938 tourists.

These record figures follow an announcement by Mexico’s lawmakers made early in December, postponing the application of a new US $42 fee for every cruise ship passenger docking at Mexico’s ports. The fee, originally scheduled to go into effect this month, will now be implemented in July.

While no final figures have been released, Cozumel’s Puerta Maya port expected over 28,000 tourists from six cruise ships on Jan. 1. Furthermore, Thursday will see 20,705 visitors, followed by 24,986 tourists on Friday. On Saturday, the number of arrivals is expected to drop to 9,470 people.

Meanwhile, Sunday will see 4,980 passengers aboard a single cruise ship docking at Punta Langosta pier, the only reception point that day.

“This achievement is the result of a joint effort between the Government of Quintana Roo, the municipality, and local service providers, reaffirming our Swallow Island as a leading destination in the Caribbean,” Lezama wrote on her official X account.

In the Maya language, Cozumel (Kuzamil) means “island of the swallows.”

In terms of distribution by pier, the Puerta Maya terminal in the southern part of the island and operated by Carnival Cruise Line, will see the highest number of tourists totaling 47,389. This figure represents 39.51% of the overall total. Next is Punta Langosta pier, which is expected to receive 34,744 visitors, while SSA México pier will accommodate 37,805 passengers.

Record number of flights in Quintana Roo

In addition to the number of cruise ship tourists arriving in the island, Dec. 28 saw record numbers of air operations at the state’s four international airports, with 765 air operations in total, Lezama said.

Quintana Roo is the only state in Mexico with four international airports: Cancún, Tulum, Chetumal and Cozumel.

Recording 665 operations on Dec. 28, Cancún International Airport came in first, marking its third-busiest day of the year. Next was Tulum International Airport with 56 flights, setting a record for the number of operations in a single day since its inauguration in December 2023.

With reports from La Jornada