Mérida, Yucatán — The international airport here prepared to welcome its 2 millionth passenger this morning, with Gov. Rolando Zapata Bello in charge of receiving the illustrious visitor.
This passenger is expected to arrive at 11:45 a.m. on American Airlines flight 4771 from Miami.
He or she will also also be welcomed by the director of Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), Héctor Navarrete Muñoz; the secretary of Tourist Promotion, Saúl Ancona Salazar; and the regional manager of the airline, Alfredo Jaimes.
The governor’s office did not indicate if the arriving party will receive a gift basket. But he is well-rehearsed at greeting arrivals, having given an official “hello” to the first passengers to land on a new Aeroméxico flight from Atlanta.
Hitting the 2 million mark in early December is something to celebrate. It’s a record number, unmatched in all of 2016, when just under 1,944,782 travelers came to the airport. In 2015, the airport took care of 1,663,616 people.
According to the latest data from this year until October, the airport had received one million 744 thousand 68 passengers, an increase of 11% compared to 2017, with a weekly average of 25 thousand 979 people who arrived in Mérida.
Overnight stays in Yucatán hotels also rose, with 797,757 on record, the most since 2006. They spent an average of 3,464 pesos a day.
Source: Punto Medio
