Yucatán’s Cruise Industry To Wrap Up 2025 With Record Results 

Yucatán will conclude the year 2025 with record results in its cruise industry, projecting that it will have received more than 460,000 passengers during the period. This represents sustained growth compared to the previous year.

The Ministry of Tourism Development (Sefotur), headed by Darío Flota Ocampo, reported that 19 cruise ship arrivals are expected in December alone. With these operations, the state will total 153 arrivals at the Port of Progreso throughout 2025.

As of November 30 of this year, Yucatán recorded the arrival of 144 cruise ships carrying 417,037 passengers.

For the month of December, the arrival of 19 cruise ships from lines such as Disney Cruise Line, Margaritaville at Sea, and Carnival Cruise Line is anticipated. These ships will collectively transport approximately 49,200 people.

This traffic reaffirms Yucatán’s strategic position on maritime routes originating from U.S. ports.

SEFOTUR attributes the success to a comprehensive strategy for promotion and strengthening maritime connectivity, driven by the state government, which has maintained constant communication with cruise lines.

Looking ahead, 2026 is already projected to surpass this year’s figures, with an expectation of 173 cruise operations and more than 480,000 visitors. This would represent an estimated growth of 14% for the sector.

This dynamism is a result of the continued interest generated by the Port of Progreso modernization project within the cruise industry, given its potential to enhance the traveler experience and accommodate vessels with greater draft.

However, it is important to keep in mind that Progreso’s cruise industry remains relatively small, especially when compared with nearby Cozumel in Mexico’s Caribbean, which by the end of this year is expected to have atracted approximately 5 million passengers.

Growth, but at what cost?

The expansion of Progreso’s pier (the longest in the world), while a driver for economic growth and tourism, has come with significant and visible environmental costs, primarily centered on coastal erosion and the loss of beachfront. The enlargement of the pier, which extends several kilometers into the Gulf of Mexico, has altered the natural movement of sand and ocean currents along the coastline.

This human-made structure acts as a barrier, disrupting the littoral drift that naturally replenishes the beaches. As a result, the area south of the pier has experienced accelerated erosion, where waves, deprived of their sediment flow, steadily eat away at the shoreline. This has led to a noticeable reduction of the public beach, a vital resource for both locals and visitors.

The loss of beachfront is not merely a cosmetic issue but an ecological and social one. The eroded beachfront reduces habitat for coastal species and diminishes natural storm buffers that protect inland areas. 

For the community, it means less public space for recreation and can impact local businesses that depend on an attractive, accessible beach. Furthermore, the erosion has necessitated costly and ongoing human interventions, such as the placement of sandbags and rock walls, in an attempt to stabilize the receding shoreline. 

These measures are often temporary and can sometimes exacerbate the problem elsewhere by further disrupting natural sediment patterns.

It is widely believed that the problem also has to do not just with the size of the pier, but the way in which its expansion has been designed. 

This point is illustrated by the fact that the original section of the pier has now survived over eight decades’ worth of hurricanes thanks to its arched steel-and-cement structure, which allows for the natural flow of currents. However, more recent extensions depend on deep-sea pylons for the construction of large concrete structures that alter the natural rhythms of the sea, bringing with them problems like erosion.