The Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico has recently announced that Akumal is the busiest beach destination in Mexico. On the Yucatán Peninsula, Akumal is a coastal resort of Mexico’s Riviera Maya.
It is not only Akumal that has been busy, as there has been a 60.5% hotel occupancy rate across Mexico, according to Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marqués.
The hotel occupancy rate, which was taken over the first quarter of 2023, is nearly 10 percent higher than in 2022. This is according to the 70 centers monitored by DataTur, which provides tourism statistics information to the Government of Mexico.
Data further show that in this period, an average of 142,685 occupied rooms were registered in beach centers. This is an increase of 14.8% compared to last year’s number of 124,300.
In terms of occupancy rate, the beach center occupancy rate was 71.7%, nine percentage points compared to the same period in 2022.
The total number of tourists in beach centers was nine million during the first three months of 2023, while Mexican cities registered 10.8 million tourists in hotel rooms.
Of the total 19.8 million tourists from January to March 2023, Torruco Marqués highlighted that 13.9 million (or nearly 70% of the total) were nationals.
Torruco Marqués detailed that the busiest beach destinations with the highest occupancy levels in Mexico were:
- Akumal – 87.6%
- Playacar – 86.6% (Playa del Carmen)
- Cabo San Lucas – 84.5%
- New Nayarit – 84.4%
- Puerto Vallarta – 83.6%
- Cancun – 80.5%
Akumal which means “Place of the Turtle” in the Mayan language, is known for its white sands, warm waters, and rich marine life, including turtles of course. Akumal Beach, or Playa Akumal, features turquoise waters where only a certain number of simmers are allowed each day to protect the turtle zone.
Guests should get to the beach early, hire a guide to be able to find the best spots to swim with turtles.