As the low season comes to a close in the Mexican Caribbean, with the fall and winter peak travel season right around the corner, two small hotels in the resort town of Tulum called it quits for now.
One hotel will wait a month to reopen while another will sit out two months until the tourist numbers pick up in the area due to the holiday season.
According to the delegate with the labor union that represents the hospitality workers in the area, the two resorts were not even close to 15 percent occupancy before shutting down for the remainder of the slow season.
The union cited the drop in occupancy as dramatic, and drastic measures were needed to accommodate the survival of the properties.
The displaced workers were able to take vacation and other paid time to make up for some of the lost wages.
There are three types of resorts and hotels available in Tulum.
The Riviera Maya is well known for its luxury all-inclusive high-end resorts. Those typically see occupancy levels of 65 to 70 percent in the slow season, according to local experts.
The coastal area includes more local resorts and hotels, and they are usually only 40 percent full in the slow season.
Meanwhile, the city center hotels that are more budget-oriented only see less than a third of the rooms full during the typical slow season in Tulum.
Overall, the city sees an average level of tourist room occupancy of about 50 percent during the slow season.
Local officials say Tulum, which is nearly two hours southwest of Cancun, simply does not have the same tourist draw as Cancun. This is especially the case during the summer low season.
However, that should change with the opening of the new Tulum International Airport in December.
TYT Newsroom
