Nayarit expects a million visitors this summer, bringing a 5-billion-peso boost to its economy

July 25, 2025

golf cart, people and buidlings of a Nayarit town — At once a Pueblo Mágico and a surfing mecca, Sayulita typifies Nayarit's attractiveness to tourists, foreign and domestic. (Maximus Meadowcroft/Unsplash)

Summer vacation has begun and Nayarit officials are projecting a five billion-peso windfall from the one million tourists expected to visit the state’s beaches and pueblos mágicos.

State and federal officials launched Operation Summer Vacation 2025 on July 4, a program aimed at providing security to tourists and Nayarit residents. The strategy involves state and federal security, health, civil protection and tourism agencies.

aerial view of beach in Nayarit — Plenty of seaside micro-destinations have earned the state’s coast the title of Riviera Nayarit. (Michele Feola/Unsplash)

Hotel occupancy in the state’s coastal areas is projected to reach 88%, contributing mightily to the 5 billion pesos (US $270 million) expected to enter the state this summer.

While providing an update this week, state Tourism Minister Juan Enrique Suárez del Real spoke of the growth in domestic and international tourists and visitors to Nayarit in recent years.

He said that while roughly two-thirds of visitors to Nayarit arrive by land, more than 60% of passengers arriving at the Puerto Vallarta International Airport in neighboring Jalisco visit destinations in Nayarit. This translates to approximately four million tourists arriving by air each year, he said.

Suárez del Real said Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro has prioritized air connectivity with new international routes arriving at the Tepic International Airport (TPQ) from the U.S. and a direct flight from Canada due to launch in December. The airport in Tepic, the state capital, officially became an international airport in 2009, but a July 16 flight from Los Angeles was TPQ’s first-ever international arrival.

Navarro oversaw a 4.1-billion-peso (US $221 million) renovation project to expand TPQ’s runways and build a new terminal and a new control tower that he said further strengthens the state’s position as a key destination for international tourism.

The tourism minister called on all state residents “to embrace tourism as a matter of shared responsibility and commitment.” He said that beyond entertainment, tourism means “meeting all the needs of those who visit Nayarit with quality and efficiency.”

With reports from El Universal and El Economista