What Low Season is Like in the Riviera Maya

If you own a rental property or stay for part of the year in the Riviera Maya, you will most likely be familiar with low season. It is what business owners brace for, and locals cut back on expenses. This year, most people have commented on what seems to be a very low season. Arrival flights are down, hotel numbers are down, and people are feeling the effects of the low season. How does the Riviera Maya change between high and low season? What are some of the factors to the slow season? and how are things looking moving forward? We will tackle these questions in our article here.

When is the low season in the Riviera Maya?

Normally most people will point to May to September. Why is this the low season? Well, it takes many factors to look at. As the northern hemisphere comes into spring and summer, people in the United States, Canada and Europe start planning summer vacations. It is when the norther hemisphere offers beach like weather and many people travel locally. The months of October to April are cooler, and this is when many like to get away to warmer weather like we have here in the Rivera Maya.

How does the low season affect things in the Riviera Maya?

Almost everyone feels low season, but it affects things differently. For one, restaurant owners have one of the hardest times because by law they need to keep employees working and cannot just layoff and hire for the high season. Restaurant owners cannot offer much of a discount either since there is an only a small margin of profit. Hotels struggle as well but are in a better place since there is a larger profit margin and they can predict how things will be based on how many reservations they have for the upcoming months.

Workers in the Riviera Maya have to prepare for less tips and less extra spending power. Entertainment parks can offer discounts to get people in the doors but even sometimes this is not enough. Just recently Xcaret (the parent company of many parks and tours) closed the Xenses night entrance and Xavage park until next year. These announcements have sent a message that this year has been very low, and it is having more of an impact this year.

Because so much of the Riviera Maya is tourism based, the highs and lows of a season can have a big impact on businesses and residents. This year especially it is noticeably lower than normal and having some impact.

What about hotel occupancy rates?

First of all, occupancy rates have to be taken with a grain of salt. For hotels, it can be a little bit of a trade secret, and they often do not like to say exactly what their occupancy rates are. Hotels don’t always like the competition to know what their rates are, and they do not want to upset investors. Airbnb and other platforms are a little easier to get detailed data, but these numbers also do not show the full picture. You do need to take into account the people that took their units offline and compare how many units in total there are. Normally anywhere in the world it is considered good if you have 70% or more occupancy. Normally the Riviera Maya does very good with occupancy since it is a popular destination. But this low season has seen rates hit 50%.

Why was the low season so low for 2024?

If we look back at previous low seasons that were unusually low, we can find reasons to why. The last time we had a usually low season was after the pandemic. Mexico was one of the few countries that was open to tourism, and this helped keep things going. After the pandemic many countries started opening up. This meant that digital nomads started to go to Bali and Portugal as these places opened. Some places like Portugal offered incentives to get tourism to come back. It also meant that people could start planning vacations around the globe and less focused on what places were available or close to home to visit. The circumstances that caused the last low season certainly are not the reasons now. So why is this season so low?

One of the main reasons is the exchange rate. From January 2022 to about August of 2024 the USD did not get about 19 to the Mexican Peso. For the first half of 2024 the USD/MXP was around 16/17. This means that people coming to the Riviera Maya experienced about a 16% increase in prices. This means that the average family would spend $500 USD more for the same vacation. Because of higher prices, people looked at other destinations or waited to book a trip.

For those living in the Riviera Maya and perhaps not permanently attached to the area, there was buzz online about how costly it was becoming. People were asking others about how they were dealing with the price increases. Some said they were not going to shorten the time staying in the area and others decided it was time to move on because of costs. This was another minor factor in the low season.

What was NOT the reason for the low season

Some of factors that did not contribute to a low season are:

Hurricane Season. We had a very light season with little interruptions.
There have been no large safety concerns locally.
Global economy has been in relatively good shape.
Seaweed. We have had one of the best years since 2014 with very low seaweed amounts.
More Airbnb’s taking business from hotels? No. Airbnb also experienced a very low season as well. And besides stays at hotel and other types of accommodation, other sectors have seen a drop in business this year.
It was not just the Riviera Maya that suffered a lower-than-normal season, other touristic destinations in Mexico like Cabo and Puerto Vallarta also experienced a lower-than-normal low season.

Taking advantage of the low season

If you do decide to spend some time in the Riviera Maya during the low season, there are some perks that can make your stay cheaper and easier. Here are some good reasons to travel during the low season for the Riviera Maya.

Hotels are often 30% off high season prices. For example, in the downtown of Playa Del Carmen you can find hotels for $50 USD a night that offer a good value.
Parks and tours will have random sales to promote more people coming.
Just walking 5th Avenue in Playa Del Carmen, you will notice less people. Less people in the beach also. So, this means a more relaxing time without the crowds.
Beach clubs also lower prices for the low season.

So, what does the future look like?

Since the prime factor of costs and exchange rates had an impact on tourism in the Riviera Maya, how are things looking? Since June of 2024 the USD/Peso has been rising. It now has reached 20 USD to the Peso. This has been the comfortable place for the exchange rate. Bookings are coming back, and most are cautiously optimistic that things will swing back towards regular occupancy and tourism numbers again.