Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – With the recent announcement that the Mexican State of Jalisco is easing restrictions on pandemic-related lodging occupancy limits, Puerto Vallarta is expecting a summer travel surge.
Hotels and resorts can now operate at 80% capacity – a jump from the 66% capacity limit imposed in April. In addition, restaurants, bars, retailers, and cultural and entertainment spaces are now permitted to operate for longer hours and at greater capacity.
The destination’s hotel occupancy rate, which averaged 55.8% in April, rose to 58% in May and exceeded 60% in June. Puerto Vallarta vacation rental properties continue to see growing occupancies as well.
Puerto Vallarta is also seeing an uptick in passenger arrivals and new and reinstated flights from the United States, Canada and the UK. Puerto Vallarta International Airport welcomed 92,750 passengers in May – a 10% increase over April’s arrivals. As of press time, June passenger statistics are not available.
During the first half of July, Puerto Vallarta will receive a total of 472 domestic flights, compared to the 348 that arrived in the first fifteen days of June, which represents an increase of 35%. In turn, 437 international flights are expected to arrive in this first fortnight, compared to 404 in the same period last month, representing an increase of 8%.
In terms of this first semester of the year, the Puerto Vallarta International Airport has had an increase of 10.13% in the number of international operations compared to the same period of 2019.
Airlines announcing new service to Puerto Vallarta from the United States are Spirit Airlines, whose inaugural flights from Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles arrived last week, and American Airlines, which has announced a new route from Austin starting November 2. Mexico’s Aeromar launched flights from McAllen, Texas, in June.
In addition, several Canadian carriers – Air Canada, Air Transat, Sunwing, Swoop and WestJet – have launched or announced new or reinstated service; and TUI Airways has announced it will launch flights from London-Gatwick this fall.