Tourism is on the rise everywhere in Mexico and nowhere more so than in Puerto Vallarta.
The number of airline passengers arriving at the port in the first semester of 2015 shows an increase of 16 percent compared with 2014, Jalisco Tourism Secretary Enrique Ramos Flores reported this week.
In total, 1.1 million visitors passed through Vallarta’s airport, he said.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), the airport’s operators, said July’s 17-percent rise in the number of passengers to Vallarta was led by the 24.6-percent increase in the volume of seats offered, which represents 65,000 new seats. According to GAP, Southwest Airlines has become a major growth generator with the opening of its Orange County daily service. Additionally, all of Mexico’s domestic airlines reached a higher volume of seats offered compared to 2014, highlighting VivaAerobus which tripled its number of flights to Monterrey.
The Guadalajara airport continues to experience solid growth, with a ten-percent increase in passenger traffic on both domestic and international flights, GAP reports.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s tourism activity rose by 3.5 percent in the first quarter, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) said. Spending by foreign and domestic tourists rose 2.5 percent in this period compared to last year.