The Mexican state of Quintana Roo, home to tourist meccas Cancun and the Riviera Maya, believes it dodged a bullet with hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
In fact, despite a few flight cancellations and delays, visitor traffic has picked up in the region in comparison to 2016. September and October are generally slow season months and experience some of the lowest occupancy rates of the year. However, this September showed a different trend.
According to Reportur, the occupancy rate in September was 65 percent, an improvement over last year.
Dario Flota, director of the Riviera Maya Promotion Trust and future president of the Quintana Roo Tourism Council told Reportur that neither the recent earthquakes in September in central Mexico, nor the travel warnings put forth by the U.S. State Department have negatively impacted tourism in the Mexican Caribbean.
Riviera Maya News also noted an improving Riviera Maya economy. So far in 2017, more than 12,000 jobs have been created in the area and overall resort occupancy in the state has averaged around 80 percent throughout the year.
"We have been recovering and officials have been working directly with banks and projects. They are the ones also working tourism and project promotion," Quintana Roo governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez told Riviera Maya News.
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Cruise ships have also been bringing more passengers. By the end of the year, it is predicted the region will have welcomed as many 5 million passengers at the port of Cozumel.
Concern for the region grew due to the new tourism warning from State Department, however, Gonzalez noted that, while it had some impact, the revenue was recoverable as many guests were being redirected from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean destinations that were affected by the hurricanes.
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