Ten million visitors came through Cancun in 2023, representing one in four tourists to Mexico that year. For a large country (the 14th largest in the world), rich with culture, art and nature, the figure is a perfect encapsulation of the problem with overtourism – people descending on one or two main points while dozens of splendid places remain largely under the radar.
As Mexico prepares for its high season – which spans from the winter holidays through spring next year – it’s doing what it can to disperse crowds beyond Cancun. An airport opened earlier this year in Tulum, with some flights from the United States now landing daily. Another airport, in Merida, is in the final phases of a large-scale expansion set to double its domestic and international arrivals. And the long-anticipated (but highly contested) Maya Train, which inaugurated service in December and will connect destinations around five of the country’s eastern states, has just added stations in Chetumal and Bacalar to its growing route network.
