Puerto Vallarta Welcomes Visitors Back Following a Multi-Phased Re-Opening Process

Puerto Vallarta, whose hotels and resorts began welcoming guests back in June, has re-opened with stringent health safety protocols in place.

The destination, which implemented a multi-phased reopening strategy spearheaded by local officials who enacted federal and international health and safety protocols, received the “Safe Travels” designation from the World Travel and Tourism Council in late June.

To date, upward of 45 hotels have reopened, with maximum occupancies of 30 percent. The properties “are offering modified access to onsite restaurants, pools and beaches,” the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board said. “A second group of hotels will open before, or during July, for the summer, and the remainder will open in the last trimester of the year, facing the winter high season.”

Puerto Vallarta is “requiring extensive and continuous sanitization in hotels, public transportation and public spaces,” the tourism board said. “Restaurants must maintain physical distance between tables and patrons, and establishments must place disinfectant mats at entrances. Local officials are also distributing antibacterial gel and conducting temperature checks.”

The city’s Malecon waterfront promenade is fully open and currently can only be used to access restaurants and shops.

At the airport, workers are using social distancing practices, and thermal video cameras are watching visitors as they enter the immigration zone, where electronic documentation processes are in place.

On the airline front, three international carriers are offering connections from U.S. cities to Puerto Vallarta. Alaska Airlines is operating daily flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco, American Airlines is operating daily connections from Dallas and Los Angeles, and United Airlines is offering daily flights from Houston. Delta Air Lines is scheduled to begin daily flights from Los Angeles on July 2.