TORONTO — It’s growing at a good clip but Los Cabos still isn’t a mass market destination, and that suits the Los Cabos Tourism Board just fine. “We’re a luxury destination, we’re very exclusive and we want to keep it that way,” says Director, Commercial, Eduardo Regules.

Los Cabos gets some three million visitors annually and while that’s ramping up – someone needs to fill all those new hotels, after all – the growth rate is still manageable, says Regules.

Taking centre stage last night at a presentation at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, Regules told industry partners that Los Cabos currently has 75 properties right now with several more on the way, but there’s a good mix of room stock, even if it does skew to the high-end crowd. “We have about 17,000 rooms. We have more than 1,200 luxury rooms, 8,000 EP, 6,500 all-inclusive, 1,000 adults-only and 50 boutique,” Regules told tour operators, agents and media.

Eduardo Regules, Director, Commercial, Los Cabos Tourism Board and Cesar Mendoza, Regional Director, Canada for the Mexico Tourism Board

Many of those tour operators and other partners say they’re seeing double-digit growth for their Los Cabos product, he added.

Over the next three years Los Cabos will welcome 4,000+ new rooms in 17 new properties. In 2019 alone the destination will welcome six luxury properties: Ritz Carlton Reserve (Q1); Nobu Los Cabos (Q2); Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos (Q2); Vidanta East Cape (Q4); Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos (Q4); and Villa Valencia (TBD).

Including the expansion of three existing properties, this will create 2,463 new rooms in Los Cabos in 2019.

Several new resorts opened this year as well, including Solaz, A Luxury Collection Resort, Le Blanc Spa Resort and Montage Los Cabos. In the north hotel zone of Puerto Vallarta, the all-inclusive Hilton Puerto Vallarta Resort expanded its offerings earlier this year with ‘The Hacienda’, adding an additional 192 suites for a total of 451 guest rooms. “We’re getting luxury brands that have never ventured into Mexico before.”

Is Los Cabos worried that it might be too much, too soon? No, says Regules. “We’re a destination that has come up very quickly. So we’ve had to do a lot of marketing, to get the word out there. But we’re still not crowded. We want the growth to continue, but with balance.”

Los Cabos is doing well for lift out of Canada – working with carriers including Air Canada, WestJet and Sunwing – but more seats are always welcome, says Regules. “We’re constantly trying to get more connectivity.”

Los Cabos may be best known by many visitors for the bars and restaurants that line its port area, but there are in fact there are five regions in the destination: Pacific, Cabo San Lucas, the tourist corridor, San Jose del Cabo and the East Cape.

Los Cabos is also home to 19 Blue Flag-designated swimmable beaches, the most of any destination in Mexico. Los Cabos is also working hard to keep development sustainable with urban image control maintaining the aesthetics of the destination, as well as cruise ship anchoring restrictions and seawater desalination facilities.