Airlines, Hotels Respond To Demand For Mexico Travel

With multinational businesses opening offices and Latin American headquarters throughout Mexico—a key bridge between the United States and South America—both Mexican and U.S. airlines are expanding service between the two countries, and new hotels are springing up and existing ones expanding to accommodate the demand.

Aeromexico, America West, Frontier and Delta airlines this past summer all added flights from the United States to Mexican destinations. Aeromexico, which already operates seven flights between Miami and Mexico City and five flights between Miami and Cancun, now is offering four weekly flights from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to Mexico City, and has added a second daily roundtrip flight from Chicago to Mexico City. The Mexican carrier this summer also added new nonstop service from Orlando to Monterrey. The two weekly flights offer continuing service to Guadalajara.

In July, Delta expanded its relationship with Aeromexico by offering service from Ontario, Calif., to Los Cabos and from Las Vegas to Monterrey. Total flights between Ontario and Los Cabos run four times a week, and flights between Las Vegas and Monterrey operate twice weekly. Combined, Delta and Aeromexico offer 220 flights from the United States to 43 cities in Mexico.

Frontier Airlines has announced it will expand service to Mexico this winter, including flights between Denver and Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. Frontier now offers one daily flight from Denver to Cancun and two weekly flights from Denver to Mazatlan.

Spirit Airlines, which presently serves only domestic locations, next month will launch a new route between Fort Lauderdale and Cancun.

Alaska Airlines, meanwhile, has added daily service to Guadalajara from Los Angeles, increasing the number of Mexican destinations it serves to seven. The airline already flies to Cancun, Ixtapa, Los Cabos, Manzanillo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

Additionally, America West Airlines last week began nonstop service from Phoenix to Monterrey.

As airlines expand service to Mexico, hotels, too, have been opening or renovating to absorb the increased demand. The Quinta Real hotel chain is renovating its Torreon and Guanajuato properties, with future enhancements at its hotels in Saltillo, Coahuila, Villahermosa and Chihuahua.

Hilton Hotels this fall will open a 150-room Hampton Inn in Torreon, Coahuila. The city has seen a surge in high-tech companies moving to the area and has responded by adding diversions for business travelers, including four new golf courses. Moreover, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide last month opened a W in Mexico City's upscale Polanco neighborhood. The property, which is the first W in Latin America, features meeting facilities, a full-service spa and other amenities.

The Mexico City-based Camino Real hotel chain is opening a five-star executive hotel in Torreon, the first of its kind in the lagoon region. Two new properties also are springing up in Mexico City's financial district: a Fiesta Inn and a Fiesta Americana, both of which are expected to be fully operational by October 2004. The two-hotel complex, appropriately called Gemelo (twin), will have a total of 280 rooms.