Although far from the numbers prior to the health emergency, the destinations of the Mexican Caribbean currently register the best numbers of visitors in the country.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Mexico has kept its borders open, which has meant a faster recovery in the tourism sector than in other destinations in the world.
According to the Tourism Research Center (Cicotur), despite the magnitude of the effects, Mexico will remain in the top ten of most visited countries and Quintana Roo in the first places.
Despite the impact, in the first eight months of the year Mexico’s tourism balance registered a positive balance of 5 billion dollars, which means a decrease of 53.6% in relation to the same period of 2019.
“The decline in the arrival of international tourists was 47.2 percent, reaching a total of 15.7 million arrivals, far from the 29.8 million reported in the same period (January-August) in 2019,” highlights Cicotur.
The volume of tourists who entered the country by air fell 58.8%, highlighting the deep decline reported in April (-98.1%), the first month of the pandemic.
In line with the trend observed in recent years, the five airports that account for nearly 90 percent of tourist arrivals by air are Cancun, Mexico City, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, and Guadalajara.
Quintana Roo leads in airport passengers.
In 2019 Quintana Roo closed with 26.4 million passengers at its airports, 22.8 million visitors, 7.2 million cruise passengers, and a spill of 15 billion dollars.
An influx of tourists it closed with more than 15 million, by destination, the Riviera Maya led with 6.5 million, followed by Cancun with six million, Cozumel with more than 900 thousand, Isla Mujeres also with more than 900 thousand and Gran Costa Maya with more than 600 thousand.
The United States, the main market.
The main markets were the United States, with 47.8 percent; other markets, 25 percent from Canada, 14.1 percent from the United Kingdom, 5.3 percent from Colombia, and 2.7 percent from Argentina.
In this year, from January to October, the arrival of passengers at airports fell 54.9 percent; in cruises, from January to March it fell 13.3 percent and the rest of the year there have been no arrivals; instead, there are nine thousand new hotel rooms.
The Cancun International Airport mobilized a total of 21,913,907 passengers in 2019, while in 2020 only 9,876,731 have been mobilized.
The arrival of domestic passengers in 2019 by air to Quintana Roo was 3,716,923, while in 2020 they add 2,125,883, a decrease of 42.81 percent.
The arrival of international passengers in 2019 by plane was 6,469,060, while in 2020 there are 2,583,745, a difference of minus 60.06 percent.
The number of passengers by international origin was led by the United States, with 3,008,813 in 2019, but for this 2020 only 1,280 009, a fall of 57.46 percent.
It was followed by the Canadian market, with 859,696 passengers last year, while this year they totaled 439,698, a decrease of 48.85 percent, according to the Sedetur report.
From Argentina 181,498 passengers arrived in 2019 and this year only 47,037, a decrease of 74.08 percent; 352,164 arrived in the English market in 2019, against 54,065 this year, that is, 84.65 percent less. 119,895 arrived from the Brazilian market and this year only 41,778, a drop of 65.15 percent; 115,291 arrived from France in 2019, but this 2020 only 50,557, which represents 56.15 percent less.
From Colombia, 165,334 passengers came to Quintana Roo in 2019, but in 2020 they decreased to 46,891, a decrease of 71.64 percent; while from Germany 110,977 arrived last year, but this year only 32,786; that is 70.46 percent less.
Finally, 140,828 passengers came to the state from the Spanish market in 2019, but this year only 24,157 have come, that is, 82.85 percent less.
Hotel occupancy.
In 2019 the average occupancy in Quintana Roo was 84 percent; Regarding the origin of visitors, 63.4 percent were foreigners and 36.6 percent national; It was closed with total availability of 107,000 rooms in 1,157 hotels.
For 2020 the average occupancy by destination is headed by Cancun / Puerto Morelos, with 36.5 percent, followed by Isla Mujeres, with 35.2 percent; Riviera Maya, with 33.3 percent; Cozumel, with 33.2 percent and Chetumal, with 17.1 percent; with the availability of 109,779 rooms in 1,166 hotels.
This item is headed by Solidaridad, with 276 hotels and 40,062 rooms; followed by Cancun, with 192 lodging centers and 37,639 rooms available.
Tulum follows, with 152 hotels and 8,138 rooms ready; then there are Lázaro Cárdenas and Othón P. Blanco, with 121 hotels each; the first, with 8,138 rooms and the second with 2,806.
Bacalar has 90 hotels and one 1,050 rooms; Cozumel, 66 lodging centers with 4,701 hotels and 6,605 rooms.
Isla Mujeres has 63 hotels, with 6,896 rooms; Felipe Carrillo Puerto, 12, with 186 rooms and José María Morelos has 8 hotels and 74 rooms.
Archaeological zones of Quintana Roo.
The archaeological zones of Quintana Roo registered 2,673,699 visitors in 2019, while in 2020 there were 769,760, which represented a fall of 71.2 percent.
Despite the pandemic, Tulum continued to lead in this area, registering in 2019 1,694,941 visitors to its archaeological zone and this 2020, from January to October, a total of 471,135 walkers, a decrease of 72.2 per hundred.
It was followed by the archaeological zone of Cobá, with 619,107 visits last year, against 188,604 for this year, which represents 69.5 percent fewer visits.
Chacchobén area stood out, with 135,740 visits in 2019, while in 2020 there were 48,706, a decrease of 64.1 percent.
The San Gervasio area, in Cozumel, had 112,714 visits last year, while this reached 23,441, that is, 79.2 percent.
The Kohunlich area received 33,519 visitors in 2019 and in 2020 only 14,164 arrived, a decrease of 57.7 percent.
El Rey, in the Cancun Hotel Zone, received 18,887 visits in 2019, while this year it fell to 5,682, a reduction of 68.6 percent.
The Dzibanché-Kinichná area registered 17,374 visits last year, while in 2020 there were just 6,374, a decrease of 65.4 percent.
The rest of the visits were distributed among the archaeological zones of Muyil, El Meco, Oxtankah, Xel-Há, and Xcaret.
Leave 2020 sense of unity.
The Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo, Marisol Vanegas Pérez, considered that the most important thing this year has been the unity of all to open the sector, recover employment and jobs.
“Many Quintana Roo residents have been able to regain their source of income. It seems to me that the way we have all found solutions to move forward is very remarkable, ”she said.
She assures that despite the pandemic, it was possible to maintain the leadership and competitiveness of the destinations of Quintana Roo, well above the rest of the country.
“The Mundo Maya alliance is a great learning, it is a great result, the creation of the Tourist Routes of Quintana Roo is also a great success, the Border of the Hondo River, the Archaeological of the South and the War of Castes, along with the consolidation of Maya Ka’an are very positive rural tourism projects that involve much more actors ”, she highlighted.
In terms of planning, there was a great result with the 2030 Sustainable Tourism Master Plan, she said.
In the forecasts, she recognized that the recovery of tourism at the levels it had in 2019 will be from 2023 onwards.
Cruises industry will continue to be paralyzed
In the cruise sector, the drop has been dramatic, since from April to date this sector has not been reactivated, so the indicators only reflect activity from January to March.
In general, a total of 2 million 168 thousand 347 cruise passengers arrived in Quintana Roo in the first quarter of 2019; While in 2020 they were 1 million 879 thousand 629, a fall of 13.32 percent; although if you only take March, the drop was 53.07 percent.
A million 456 thousand 796 cruise passengers arrived in Cozumel, from January to March 2019, between visitors and crew; While in 2020 they were 1 million 279 thousand 198, a difference of less than 12.19 percent; however, compared only to March, the fall was 52.76 percent.
A Mahahual, from January to March 2019, 711 thousand 551 cruise passengers arrived, while in 2020 600 thousand 431 arrived, that is, 15.65 percent less.
Source: poresto.net
