In the first five months of 2022, 2.6 million cruise passengers arrived via cruise ship to Mexico. This year’s arrival of cruise travelers to Mexico represents a total income of 198.5 million dollars. It’s the most impressive number so far since cruise ships first started to return to the country in 2021, following the industry-wide suspension.
Cruise Passenger Arrival in Mexico this Year
The Government of Mexico released that from January to May 2022, 2.674 million cruise passengers arrived in Mexico. It reported that 1,248 cruise ships visited different ports of the country within that timeframe, including popular destinations on Western Caribbean and Mexican Riviera sailings.
During the first three months of the year, the number of cruise guests that visited one of the most popular cruise ports in the Caribbean, Cozumel, exceeded the total number of passengers that visited in 2021.
The ports of Cozumel and Costa Maya (Mahahual) in Quintana Roo; Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur, Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco, and Mazatlan in Sinaloa received the largest amount of cruise visitors in Mexico in the first five months.
Mexico’s ports of Cozumel, Costa Maya, Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlán encompassed 95.6% of total cruise passengers that visited Mexico in the last five months.
Western Caribbean itineraries often feature the Mexican cruise ports of Cozumel and Costa Maya; while the ports of Ensenda, Cabo San Lucas, and Puerto Vallarta can be found on Mexican Riviera cruises from the U.S. West Coast.
The Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marqués, explained that within the timeframe of January to May 2022, Cozumel registered 498 arrivals and 1,018,617 cruise guests. Costa Maya had 251 ship arrivals with 523,197 cruise travelers onboard.
Read Also: Cozumel Receives Over 600,000 Cruise Visitors in First Three Months of 2022
Ensenada registered the arrival of 140 cruise ships in which 226,005 passengers arrived, and in Cabo San Lucas 116 vessels visited with a total of 213,850 onboard guests.
Within those months, Puerto Vallarta registered the arrival of 89 cruise ships with 179,025 passengers, while Mazatlán had 69 arrivals and 149,161 cruise travelers.
Cruisers who traveled to Mexico in those five months represent a total foreign exchange income of $198,000,000.
Mexico’s Cruise Return
Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas was the first cruise ship to resume sailings in North America on June 12, 2021, sailing from Nassau, the Bahamas with a fully vaccinated group of guests and crew.
The 7-night Adventure of the Seas cruise was also the first sailing that returned to Cozumel with 1,000 passengers onboard after the industry-wide suspension.
Norwegian Gem departed from the new Norwegian Cruise Line Terminal in Port Miami on August 15, 2021, and was the first cruise ship to dock at the Punta Langosta cruise pier on August 20, 2021.
On August 24, 2021, Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Panorama was the first cruise ship to return to Puerto Vallarta Cruise Port in the Mexican Riviera since the shut down in 2020.
“We are delighted to resume our Carnival Panorama sailings and to offer guests an opportunity to experience all of the beauty of Puerto Vallarta while providing a much-needed boost to the local economy,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
In 2018 the busiest port of call in the Caribbean and one of the most visited ports in the World, Cozumel earned more than $474 million on direct expenditures from cruise lines, guests, and crew members.
There are three cruise ports in Cozumel, the International Pier, the Punta Langosta cruise pier, and the Puerta Maya Pier.
Over the beginning of 2022, the Ministry of Tourism reported Mexico expects to welcome 6,776,000 cruise ship passengers, an increase of 385% over 2021 and down only 25.5% over the record-breaking 2019.
Since then, the cruise ports of Mexico have strived to bounce back from the lack of cruisers due to the global pandemic and have steadily done so since the 2021 comeback.
