Mexico tourism has dropped for ALG Vacations with consumer confidence waning due to recent cartel violence.
Typically, Mexico accounts for 41% of the vacation packager’s business, but that dropped to 25% soon after violence erupted in Puerto Vallarta on Feb. 22, following the Mexico military’s killing of cartel leader “El Mencho.”
Chaos ensued in Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding area, with cartel members setting vehicles ablaze. One G Adventures tour group was caught in the crosshairs when their vehicle was intercepted by “unauthorized individuals” on the highway as they traveled to Guadalajara from Puerto Vallarta. The group was not harmed but their vehicle and belongings were torched.
Even with the drop in Mexico business, over 100,000 customers will have traveled there with ALG Vacations in February and March, said Jacki Marks, the company’s head of trade brands.
“Has it softened? Yes,” Marks said. “It’s likely going to steady and stabilize over time. There’s always the immediate reaction from the consumer and the media.”
Instead, travelers are visiting Caribbean destinations. Marks said travel to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Central America was up 50% year on year.
Right now, operators like ALG Vacations are working to educate travel advisors and travelers about the reality on the ground as “a lot of misinformation” impacts traveler confidence about Mexico. ALG plans to host webinars about boosting client trust in the destination.
But Marks is hopeful the dent in Mexico’s tourism won’t be long-lasting.
“No one can predict the future, but having lived through various examples of fears — tainted alcohol and other things that have happened over the years — they have tended to be short periods of time,” she said.
Puerto Vallarta’s tourism isn’t likely to recover as quickly as the country as a whole, she said. While ALG Vacations does have customers going to Puerto Vallarta, it’s a trickle compared to the normal number.
A record number of visitors, just shy of 6.3 million, visited Puerto Vallarta in 2025, according to the destination’s tourism bureau. Marks said it would take time for ALG Vacations to determine recovery time for Puerto Vallarta.
For customers who were slated to go to Mexico but are changing plans, only 10% of them are rebooking the country for a later date. Ninety percent are going elsewhere.
The vacation packager will send team members to Mexico in the coming weeks to show what travel is like on the ground and what the experience is like in-destination. ALG Vacations recently did this in Jamaica, sending employees and travel advisors there to showcase hurricane recovery efforts and boost interest in the country.
“We need to show that every place in Mexico is back open, and that things are normal and you can travel with confidence,” she said.
Another vacation packager, Pleasant Holidays, also reported a decline in Mexico bookings since the cartel violence broke out. Pleasant is seeing a “significant” increase in clients going to other destinations, particularly the Dominican Republic.
Intrepid Travel, an adventure travel specialist that offers some Mexico itineraries, said it is not seeing an impact on Mexico business. Nor is EF World Journeys and its brands.
Intrepid doesn’t offer trips to Puerto Vallarta or Guadalajara. Its itineraries focus on Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Mexico City, which are operating normally.
Mexico has been one of the company’s fastest-growing markets in the Americas, Intrepid said.
“Mexico is a big, diverse country, and what happened in one area doesn’t represent the whole destination,” said Leticia Franco, Intrepid’s general manager for Mexico.
Source: travelweekly
