Cancun, QR. Although still not reaching the occupancy figures registered before the pandemic, the Riviera Maya advanced in 2021 towards a frank tourist recovery with the opening of four new luxury hotels and the addition of 1,380 rooms to its accommodation offer; in addition, it contemplates for this year hotel investments for 477 million dollars.
This was announced by the president of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association (AHRM), Antonio Chaves, who applauded the decision of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to work together with the hoteliers and businessmen of the destination to seek a new line of the Mayan Train.
“The new layout has already been presented to us and we are working on small modifications agreed between Fonatur and the hotel associations of Riviera Maya and Tulum. We are in the best position to continue the dialogue for the sake of connectivity that will benefit the development and growth of tourism in the Mexican Caribbean. If we do well in Quintana Roo, Mexico is doing well in economic and tourism matters, “he said.
On the other hand, Manuel Paredes, executive director of the AHRM, revealed that in 2022 the opening of three new hotel developments is expected, such as the Hilton (400 million dollars), Valentín Imperial (66 million) and El Esplendor by Wyndham Tulum (11 million), with an offer of more than 2,000 rooms.
The manager specified that the destination closed in 2021 with an average occupancy of 52%, 20 points above the 32% registered the previous year, but below the 79% of 2019.
Last December, the destination managed to maintain an occupancy of almost 76% in the demand for rooms due to the large influx of national and international visitors who arrived to celebrate the end of the year, through 2,686 domestic air arrivals and 5,696 international, he stated.
In addition to the recovery in the tourist flow, the Riviera Maya closed last year with 52,000 rooms in operation (43,771 from Solidaridad and 8,390 from Tulum) and jobs were recovered until reaching 86,000 direct with the opening of new luxury hotels such as Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Riviera Maya and Xcaret Arte, among others.
Challenge
Meanwhile, Antonio Chaves stressed that the challenge for this year will be not to lower our guard, but to reinforce security protocols to continue maintaining the Riviera Maya as a safe destination against Covid-19 and new variants such as Ómicron and others that could arise in the present year.
“We trust in continuing to work together government, society and businessmen to act responsibly as we have done so far in the face of a pandemic that has not yet ended,” said the hotelier, who announced that they will attend the next Fitur, to be held in Spain, at the that have confirmed meetings with some of the main tour operators.
Capital hotels, below pre-pandemic levels
Mexico City closed 2021 with an accumulated hotel occupancy of 30%, which meant that the same levels that occurred between 2017 and 2019 could not be reached, pre-pandemic years, revealed the Association of Hotels of Mexico City. .
According to the annual report of the group, the capital of the country during 2020, the year in which the health contingency began, reached a hotel occupancy of 19.82%, while in 2019 it was 67.89%, in 2018 it was 69.25% and in 2017 of 68.48 percent.
Hotel entrepreneurs project that by 2022 hotel occupancy will continue with constant growth, but at the same rate as it was in 2021; the same percentage of the prepandemic levels would be recovering until 2023.
“This estimate may be affected as a result of upcoming events in the city such as the Tianguis Turístico 2023, Formula 1, RIOT Games, among other activities,” they reiterated.
The capital city hoteliers indicated that the hotel rate recovery could take up to five years to recover.
Precisely, the estimate reveals that the initial recovery period is estimated to arrive for the period 2024–2025.
The report of the Hotel Association of Mexico City indicated that in 2021 the average rate was 1,179.8 pesos, while in 2020 it was 1,086.7 pesos, for in 2019 it was 1,890.7 pesos. In 2018 the hotel rate reached 2,066.4 pesos and in 2017, 1,909.2 pesos.
The last quarter of 2021 was the one that showed the best numbers with occupations of 41.39% in October, 52.73% in November and 45.68% in December.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx