La Jornada: With the World Cup, trips on the CBX bridge from Tijuana to San Diego increase

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has represented a boost for tourism between Mexico and the United States, indicated Eduardo Shutte, commercial director of the Cross Border Xpress (CBX), the pedestrian bridge that connects the Tijuana airport with San Diego, and through which 690 thousand passengers are expected to move during June and July.

In an interview, Shutte stated that the behavior of travelers has exceeded the expectations raised before the start of the World Cup, when doubts persisted about the demand that the tournament would have.

“There was expectation, but also uncertainty. There was a lot of noise about unsold tickets and other versions (…). We see a significant rebound in the number of passengers using CBX, both California residents, who went to Mexico to attend games, and Mexicans who are traveling to Los Angeles or San Francisco to follow the competition.

“For June and July we expect around 690 thousand passengers, a very important figure for this season and which responds, to a large extent, to the connectivity that the Tijuana airport has with the rest of the country,” he noted.

The manager explained that the Tijuana air terminal has established itself as one of the main connection centers in the country, only behind the Mexico City International Airport, by offering direct flights to 37 national destinations.

This network, he noted, has allowed travelers from practically the entire Republic to use the CBX as a gateway to Southern California, a market that maintains an intense tourist, commercial and family relationship with Mexico.

Given the expected increase in the influx of passengers, the company reinforced its operational processes with biometric tools and closer coordination with the immigration authorities of both countries, with the purpose of reducing waiting times during border crossings.

Improve itineraries

Shutte said that the World Cup also represents an opportunity for more travelers to learn about this border crossing scheme, because although the bridge began operations in December 2015 and since then has served more than 30 million passengers, there is still ample room to increase its use.

He emphasized that a quarter of its users reside in Mexico and the rest in California, where the participation of American tourists who use the Tijuana airport as a starting point to visit different destinations in the country has also grown.

“40 percent of our users live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and that has a very clear explanation. On average, flying from Tijuana to Mexico costs between 30 and 40 percent less than flying from Los Angeles and, in addition, there is connectivity that many US airports do not offer for destinations such as Oaxaca, Mérida, Puebla or Puerto Escondido.”