Chichén Itzá bounces back in a big way in 2021
Yucatán’s archaeological sites have attracted nearly 1.6 million visitors during the first 10 months of 2021.
This number stands in stark contrast to attendance at the state’s archaeological sites in 2020, which barely reached 400,000.
So far this year, Chichén Itzá attracted a little over a million visitors — making it once again Yucatán’s most popular tourist attraction.
Chichén Itzá also became the most visited archaeological site in all of Mexico for the first time, easily beating out Teotihuacan, near Mexico City. This is likely explained by Chichén Itzá’s proximity to Cancún and the Mayan Riviera.
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With nearly 750,000 visitors, the archaeological site of Tulum on Quintana Roo’s Caribbean coast became the second-most-visited archaeological site in the country. This is despite the site’s closure on a couple of occasions, due to COVID-19 infections being reported at the site.
Other popular Mayan archaeological sites include Uxmal in the state’s southwest and Ek-Balam, near the city of Valladolid and Chichén Itzá.
The usually busy archaeological site of Dzibilchaltún came in 15th in overall attendance nationwide. This was because it only reopened last week after nearly half a year of being closed down over a land dispute.
Several archaeological sites in Yucatán, including Kabah and Labna, still remain closed to the public. The reason for this is that the INAH says that they don’t have adequate sanitary facilities or bathrooms.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a journalist, photographer, and expedition leader. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada, and Norway.
