Mexico Cruise Passenger Traffic Rises 15% in Early 2026

Mexico received about 4.8 million cruise passengers on 1,425 cruise ship calls from January through April 2026, putting the country ahead of last year’s pace after only four months. Passenger volume rose 14.8% year over year. Ship calls increased 10%.

The growth implies roughly 4.18 million passengers and about 1,295 calls in the comparable 2025 period. The Pacific side posted the sharpest percentage increases, while Cozumel continued to anchor Gulf-Caribbean volume.

Josefina Rodríguez Zamora, Mexico’s secretary of tourism, said cruise arrivals generate “direct benefits for the receiving communities,” citing spending in “restaurants, shops, tourist services, transport and recreational activities,” along with port and destination employment.

Pacific ports deliver the largest percentage gains

Mexico’s Pacific region, including Baja California and Mexican Riviera ports, handled 1,708,341 cruise passengers on 540 ship calls in the first four months of 2026. That was up 39.9% in passengers and 22.4% in calls from the same period last year, according to tourism data and information from SEMAR, Mexico’s navy secretariat.

Puerto Chiapas was one of the fastest-growing named ports in the region, with ship arrivals up 83.3% and passenger traffic up 80.5%. The southern Mexico port is a direct-dock call with a self-contained cruise terminal; nearby Tapachula is about 20 to 30 kilometers inland and is reached by paid shuttle from the terminal.

Cozumel anchors Gulf-Caribbean volume

The Gulf-Caribbean region handled about 3.1 million cruise passengers and 885 ship calls from January through April. Passenger traffic in the region increased 4.6% year over year, while calls rose 3.5%.

The region includes Cozumel, Costa Maya and Progreso, all positioned for Western Caribbean deployment. Cozumel alone received 1,987,695 passengers on 571 calls in the four-month period, up 7.1% in passengers and 5.2% in calls from 2025.

Cozumel’s cruise operations are spread across three main terminals: Punta Langosta, International Pier/SSA Mexico and Puerta Maya. The port setup allows multiple ships to berth at the same time.

In 2025, Quintana Roo received 7.4 million cruise passengers, including 4.62 million at Cozumel. Costa Maya adds further berth capacity on the Yucatán side, with a purpose-built cruise facility generally described as able to handle about four ships at once.

Year-round deployment keeps Mexico in core cruise rotations

Mexico remains a year-round cruise destination for major operators including Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line. Their Mexico programs draw from Southern California, Texas and Florida, feeding both Pacific and Western Caribbean itineraries.

For the next comparable yardstick, Mexico logged 5.6 million cruise visitors from January through June 2025. The 2026 count after April was only about 800,000 passengers below that six-month total.