Local tourism authorities in Mexico celebrate surging arrivals numbers for the start of 2024; a year-over-year increase of 4.2% in occupancy rates. But while visitor numbers are growing along some of Mexico’s most beautiful beaches — it’s not in the places you’d expect.
Many travelers are now heading to lower-density destinations like Tulum rather than traditionally busier areas like Cancun and Playa del Carmen.
Outside of what was once nothing more than a tiny outpost on a white sand beach, the brand-new Tulum International Airport now welcomes daily flights from many major United States cities.
Tulum’s newfound accessibility is introducing travelers to a new style of travel in the Mexican Caribbean, marked by boutique, experience-focused hotels rather than the oversized all-inclusive resorts the region is known for.
Cancun Take Two
Cancun has been among the most popular destinations for beachgoers in Mexico since the 1970s when the Mexican government developed a resort haven on a stretch of the Yucatan Peninsula known for its pristine coastline and powder-fine sand. Now, it’s one of Mexico’s most important tourism hubs. The Cancun International Airport receives more incoming international visitors than any other airport in the country and is among one of the busiest airports in the Americas.
Cancun’s overwhelming success in drawing visitors has spread to nearby destinations like Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and, most recently, Tulum.
Tulum, located about two hours south of Cancun near lush tropical forests and deep sinkholes filled with crystal-clear water, is an enticing alternative to Cancun’s high rises. It has long been a haven for the in-the-know, ahead-of-the-trend set, its low-profile, thoughtful design away from overcommercialized resort zones.
The secret is officially out, and Tulum’s recent growth prompted local officials to push for its own airport, which debuted in December 2023. The airport received its first international flights from the United States this March.
While the Caribbean’s busier-than-ever summer travel season makes news, “the real test of the airport’s impact on Tulum will be later this year when it starts getting colder elsewhere,” says Brendon Leach, CEO of Colibrí Boutique Hotels, whose luxe properties line Tulum’s sandy shores. “We’re excited to see how it impacts tourism in the area and expect it to raise the profile of Tulum even more.”
Colibrí Boutique Hotels
Colibrí Boutique Hotels exemplifies just how different Tulum tourism has been from tourism in the rest of the country. No cookie-cutter all-inclusives here; Colibrí operates four luxurious properties across some of Tulum’s most sought-after areas. Despite being similar in size, each property offers a vastly different style and feel, curating a unique elevated experience, earning them membership among the Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
The first Colibrí property in Tulum, Mezzanine, offers just four bespoke and stylish rooms beside Tulum’s first Thai restaurant, which helped rewrite Tulum as a destination for elevated experiences. It is among the few properties within the region’s newly protected Jaguar National Park, just a stone’s throw from Colibrí’s Mi Amor. As its name implies, the romantic, intimate property is where you dream of spending a vacation with your love.
The hotel group’s most recent addition, Lula, combines the Mediterranean and Mexico at every turn. Lula offers a refreshing balance to wellness travel, which tends to skew monastic, even in vibrant Tulum. Start the day with sunrise yoga or mimosas and pancakes, then partake in a sound bath before enjoying woodfired pizza and an Aperol spritz.
At La Zebra, family-friendly spaces meet the colorful Frida’s Lounge for rooftop mezcalitas and the now-legendary Lucha Libre Ballet dinner show, making it a destination that presents every visitor with the best of Mexico.
La Zebra’s Chef’s Table by Eleazar Bonilla is a culinary love letter from one of the region’s most promising young chefs to Mexican ingredients and flavors. Enjoy what will surely be one of your most memorable culinary experiences to date.
Foodies should note that Colibrí Boutique Hotel’s Mi Amor is another must-visit spot. Famed Mexican chef and ARCA co-owner Jose Luis Hinostroza leads the eatery, named among the best restaurants in Latin America and the best bars in North America by 50 Best. Its Sunday brunch goes viral time and time again.
These properties can’t go toe-to-toe with Cancun’s resorts in an amenity arms race, but for Colibrí’s return visitors and devoted fans, that is the point. “Having every amenity under the sun gets boring after a while if there’s no heart and soul behind it,” says Mara Andrade, Mezzanine and Mi Amor general manager. “The richness of these properties is their deeply personal attention, specialized care, and the palpable certainty guests have that they’re one of just a few people that are in on what feels like a fantastic secret.”
Tulum’s recent growth attracts major hotel players like Hilton, with resorts like Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya and the neighboring Hilton Tulum Riviera Maya All-Inclusive Resort debuting along the shores of Tulum’s less-crowded northern hotel zone. But properties like Colibrí Boutique Hotels — part of Tulum’s growth story since the beginning — make the area the special destination it has become.
Growing Pains
Despite Tulum’s rapid growth and the addition of the new international airport, there are still a lot of issues to work out when it comes to accommodating more visitors. Major obstacles complicate how to get to Tulum, even from the new international airport. Artificially inflated taxi prices for the 30-45 minute drive into town can cost as much as — or more than — a flight into Cancun, a worrisome detail locals can’t stop talking about but have yet to resolve.
However, Tulum’s newfound accessibility feels like the push to expose travelers to new areas of the region, beyond just Cancun and Playa del Carmen, for the first time.
“The Mexican Caribbean has so much to offer so many types of visitors,” explains Andres Martinez, the Director General of Consejo de Promoción Turística de Quintana Roo, the Mexican state’s tourism board. “While all of the destinations within the region boast beautiful weather and are steeped in Mayan culture, they each possess their own unique individuality… [which can] stimulate repeat visitation — whether that’s to the same location year after year or to an entirely new experience elsewhere in the state.”
For travelers long opposed to Cancun-style travel at oversized, impersonal beach resorts, this might be the key that unlocks a new vision of one of Mexico’s most desirable destinations for the first time.
