The Bay of Banderas is experiencing a post-peak-Covid out-of-season tourism boom of sorts as pent-up demand fuels flights and hotel bookings, including many last-minute ones.
Through June, year-to-date air traffic at the Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport had reached more than three million passengers, according to data from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, a record-setting number over the past ten years.
In June, passengers landing at Vallarta’s main airport exceeded 230,000 even as the annual rainy gets into full swing. In 2019, the last year before the Covid pandemic hit, the total number of passengers at the airport was approximately 2.8 million.
José Ludvig Estrada Virgen, Puerto Vallarta’s director of Municipal Tourism and Economic Development, said Vallarta has already exceeded the number of visitors and flights from both national and foreign tourism compared to the pre-pandemic season in 2019. He said in May, there had been 89 percent hotel occupancy, 15 percent more than three years ago, and that the forecast for the rest of the summer is looking good.