As a result of the recent rise in crime and homicides, 300,000 hotel reservations reportedly have been cancelled….
CANCUN — Irene Prado, sales manager of Secrets Silversands from the hotel chain A & M Resorts, said that the decline in occupancy started on July 31, when the news about the US government warning became known. Although there have also been other factors, mainly the threat of hurricanes, it has been the travel alert that has most damaged the arrival of visitors this year, Prado said.
Irene Prado, sales manager of Secrets Silversands A & M Resorts, which operates 52 hotels in the Caribbean and Mexico, expecting to reach 100 in 2020. This expansion includes six new centers in Quintana Roo, mainly in the Riviera Maya and Costa Mujeres, where two hotels with more than 400 rooms each have an average investment of $70 million USD.(Photo: Noticaribe)
One of the major travel wholesale agencies, Apple Leisure Group, reports a fall in levels of up to 53% for August and September 2018, equivalent to about 300 thousand visitors who will not be visiting destinations like Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
The updating of the travel alert was launched by the US State Department on August 22 of this year, because of the shootings that reached downtown Cancun and the murders in tourist areas in the Riviera Maya. For 2017 through October 11, 135 executions were registered, according to the State Attorney General’s Office.
The downturn in reservations is occurring mainly in the incentive group market, that is to say, those trips which American companies award to their employees, as well as in weddings and honeymoons.
(Apple Leisure Group is an international tour operator, as well as hotel group with a presence of 20 thousand rooms in Mexico and the Caribbean. It forecasts a decrease of 40% in tourism for 2018.)
The problem stems from the fact that the killings are happening in the main tourist destinations of the northern zone of Quintana Roo, in zones where tourists travel and stay. As a result, the United States updated its travel alert recommending its citizens take certain precautions if traveling to Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Cozumel, among other Mexican destinations.
According to Abelardo Vara Rivera, hotel entrepreneur, things are now stabilizing, after hurricanes and earthquakes, coupled with recommendations to be cautious about insecurity, which caused a drop in the influx of tourism.
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1 comment
People may travel there but its not until you need medical attention or get slipped bad alcohol that you realize your safety is at risk. Comparing Chicago crime is silly because its becoming the next Detroit and the middle class are leaving increasingly.
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