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2.3 million expected for summer vacation amid sargassum smear campaigns

Riviera Maya, Q.R. — Approximately 2.3 million visitors are expected in Quintana Roo for the summer holidays despite smear campaigns. Rodrigo de la Peña, President of the Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres Hotel Association, says even with those figures, the anticipated hotel occupancy rates will remain at least three points below last year.

Rodrigo de la Peña

“As I mentioned before, the problem is the planes. Fortunately, all the planes are arriving full. The challenge is to bring more frequent flights in the short term. It has been very difficult,” he said. “I estimate that we will end up with a hotel occupancy rate of around 79-80 percent.”

The expected occupancy rate, he stated, is not bad, but will remain about three points below last year’s figures. While American tourism remains the main market for the Mexican Caribbean, this summer season it is domestic tourists who are expected to fill the rooms.

“In the summer, domestic airfare is the biggest contributor. We are also doing a census of cancellations due to the sargassum issue. The reality is that it hasn’t been significant. It’s an issue that’s caused a lot of buzz but not had a significant impact,” he said.

Manuel García Maldonado, the Director of the National Chamber of the Restaurant Food Industry in Playa del Carmen, says information disseminated about sargassum has impacted the arrival of visitors.

The summer season for the restaurant sector is looking “extremely complicated,” he said. According to Garcia Maldonado, mixed images shared on social media and international media about the massive arrivals of sargassum have had an effect on the arrival of tourists.

Drone footage off the coast of Riviera Maya July 16, 2025.

“We are at an all-time low with very low tourism and excessive sargassum. We’ve held working groups with the Ministry of the Environment and the truth is there’s no means or budget sufficient to control this excessive arrival of sargassum,” he said.

He commented that at these working groups, representatives of the restaurant industry asked municipal authorities to meet with local media outlets so that the information disseminated about sargassum is truthful and does not harm the destination.

“It’s a tragedy for our municipality considering that we live off sun and beach tourism,” he said.

Central Playa del Carmen July 16, 2025.

Earlier this week, Quintana Roo State Secretary Cristina Torres said sargassum smear campaigns against the state have been used to discredit the destination. According to Torres, competing tourist destinations and hotel chains outside the state are using the sargassum issue to discredit Quintana Roo.

Quintana Roo State Secretary Cristina Torres

The state’s internal policy official stated that “fake news promoters” are deceiving tourists and discrediting not only the state but the entire country.

“The state’s tourism level, specifically sun and beach tourism, generates a lot of unfair competition from people in the tourism sector. They don’t realize that by generating not only false, but completely erroneous campaigns regarding sargassum, all they are doing is deceiving people and discrediting the destination and the country,” she said.

Cancun Hotel Zone beach the morning of July 16, 2025.

The state official condemned these actions noting that the state government will continue to highlight the actions being taken in the tourism sector to counter this problem.

Cancun Hotel Zone the afternoon of July 16, 2025.

Torres explained that there are areas where, due to strong currents and the strength of the waves, it is not possible to place sargassum barriers, however, beach cleanups are continually done in a coordinated manner in the affected areas.

2.3 million expected for summer vacation amid sargassum smear campaigns
Drone footage off the coast of Playa del Carmen July 16, 2025.

Torres emphasized that Quintana Roo, in addition to sun and sand, offers ecotourism, archaeological tourism and many other options for visitors as well as unbeatable quality service.