The worrying situation facing the tourism industry in Oaxaca has set off alarm bells in the business sector, revealing a profound disconnect between official narratives and the economic reality faced by local businesses.
While the communication channels of the State Tourism Secretariat insist on disseminating optimistic projections and “cheerful figures,” the hard data from the Mexican Association of Hotels and Motels of Oaxaca (AMHyMO) revealed a critical picture: hotel occupancy in the capital is stagnating at an alarming 38%.
The current crisis has placed the strategy of Secretary Saymi Pineda Velasco under public scrutiny, whose management faces three serious technical challenges from the productive sectors:
▫️ Hotel associations point out that the state agency has been unable to design effective and globally competitive marketing campaigns, which has led to a sustained drop in the influx of foreign visitors since last April.
▫️ At the helm of one of the state’s most vital secretariats, the official has lacked the necessary inter-institutional coordination to mitigate the impact of marches, chronic road blockades, and rising crime rates—factors that directly deter mass tourism during peak cultural seasons.
▫️ Formal businesses are suffering severe losses due to the lack of a legal framework to regulate the more than 9,000 unregulated accommodations operating through digital platforms in the state. The Secretariat’s lack of equitable public policies continues to stifle organized hotels that do pay local taxes.
When the management of cultural and economic resources is governed by criteria of feigned optimism rather than by real competitive indicators, the consequences of government inefficiency are ultimately borne by the thousands of Oaxacan families who legitimately depend on tourism.
Should the tourism department and the state government be required to provide mandatory public accountability to the business sector when formal occupancy targets are not met?
Source: OEM
