Los Cabos bounces back to pre-travel warning growth

New tourism data released today from Los Cabos Tourism Board and the Hotel Association of Los Cabos show a strong rebound to pre-travel warning levels in hotel occupancy, visitor arrivals and RevPar. In October 2017, hotel occupancy in Los Cabos rebounded by 21 percentage points, climbing to 61 percent from 40 percent from the previous month. Additionally, following a 2 percent dip in September, the first decline in three years, visitor arrivals trended upwards once again, rallying by 8.8 percent.

“With repeat guests accounting for 70% of our visitors, Los Cabos’ resilience is in the destination’s DNA, and this new data illustrates that Los Cabos is still on the rise,” said Rodrigo Esponda, Managing Director of Los Cabos Tourism Board. “Our strategic growth in hotels, arrivals and occupancy has created a very favorable environment for both tourists and investors who are attracted to the destination’s diverse and distinct experiences and are also confident in the destination’s long-term potential as a premier destination of choice.”

Key October Tourism Data Insights:

• Overall visitation grew by 8.8 % compared to the same period last year. Los Cabos welcomed 172,300 visitors.

• RevPar performance year to date increased by 11% (January through October 2017).

o Notably, following the traditionally slow September period for the travel industry, RevPar returned to August rates, rising from $90 to $153 in October 2017.

• Los Cabos added almost 2,805 hotel rooms – 25% growth in hotel inventory from October 2016 to October 2017.
Overall, international arrivals to Los Cabos continues to sustain its 17 percent YOY growth. Holding steady with previous forecasts, Los Cabos is expected to close the year 5 percent up in tourist arrivals for 2017. In addition, Los Cabos remains on track to add another 4,900 hotel rooms by 2021 representing $900 million dollars in hotel investment alone.

Since the travel warning was issued in late August, Los Cabos has taken swift and aggressive measures to intensify security measures across the destination, investing more than $47 million dollars to increase security personnel, equipment and infrastructure this year alone.

The destination has also enacted a five-point security action plan in a joint private and public sector effort that includes the launch of a new marine base, more than 200 new cameras for its surveillance system, a new hotel security committee, implementing security training protocols aligned with Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) standards and activating a rapid response network for real-time communications between local hoteliers and businesses.