Canada overtakes US as Mexico’s top air travel partner for tourism

Data from a assortment of sources present amusement that Canadians — not Americans — are the apical planetary visitors arriving to Mexico’s main tourer destination, the Caribbean coast. And for the archetypal clip ever, the Cancún-Toronto way ranked arsenic the busiest of immoderate planetary formation to Mexico, according to the Mexican Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).

Of 10 aerial routes with the astir planetary postulation to the Mexican Caribbean past year, six connecting with the U.S. showed downturns portion 2 Canadian flights experienced important rider surges.

A survey conducted by the Center for Advanced Research successful Sustainable Tourism (STARC) astatine Anáhuac University’s Quintana Roo campus revealed that travel from Toronto, the superior of the Canadian state of Ontario, climbed 26.1% compared to 2024, displacing the 2 flights from Texas (Dallas-Cancún and Houston-Cancún) which had traditionally topped this yearly list.

In fact, past year’s Dallas-Cancún flights had 4.5% less passengers than successful 2024. Two different fashionable U.S.-Caribbean routes suffered declines past twelvemonth — Chicago-Cancún (down 11.7%) and Atlanta-Cancún (–2%).

In contrast, the Montreal-Cancún transportation surged 24%.

The STARC survey concluded that the apt origin of the emergence successful question to Mexico by Canadians is simply a absorption to the punitive policies, threats and insults directed toward Canada by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has adjacent projected making it the 51st U.S. state.

Francisco Madrid, manager of the Center for Advanced Research successful Sustainable Tourism that documented the emergence successful Canadian aerial passengers to Mexico’s Caribbean coast, predicts that airlines volition proceed to exploit the “Trump effect” to woo much Canadian passengers, whose numbers roseate by 12% to 13% successful 2025.  (STARC)

On Thursday, Forbes Magazine wrote that Canadians are 1 twelvemonth into a boycott of U.S. destinations that has outgo the U.S. system US $4.5 billion. The boycott is apt to proceed successful 2026, Forbes said, arsenic trips to the U.S. turned little successful January.

Citing information from Mexico’s Tourism Ministry, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported successful December that the fig of Canadians flying to Mexico accrued 11.3% betwixt January and September 2025 compared to the twelvemonth before, an summation of astir 200,000 tourists.

“I bash deliberation that determination is simply a Trump effect, but I don’t deliberation it’s lone a Trump effect. … Mexico is an charismatic anticipation for Canadians … and we spot that reflected successful the numbers,” Sara Ranghi, selling manager for Meliá Hotels International, told the CBC.

Francisco Madrid, manager of STARC, forecast that airlines volition not miss the accidental presented by the Trump effect to instrumentality vantage of the Canadian market. 

“The Canadian marketplace made a large quality successful 2025, increasing by astir 12 to 13%,” helium said.

With reports from El Economista, Forbes Magazine and CBC