Mahahual, Q.R. — Despite ongoing inundations of seaweed, officials in Mahahual say they have a five percent cancellation rate related directly to sargassum. Costa Maya hotel representative Gerardo Pérez Zafra says only five percent of their hotel reservation cancellations have been sargassum related.
He says the hotel sector maintains an average occupancy rate of 70 percent, which is slightly lower than projected for the summer holidays, however, “we are confident that in the coming weeks we can reach up to 95 percent occupancy,” he stated.
Pérez Zafra said the cancellations are due to misinformation that is being spread. He says there are people who believe that all Costa Maya beaches are covered in sargassum all the time. “This is not true,” he clarified. “Most of the beaches located in the central area of Mahahual are free of algae and in good condition.”
He acknowledged that the placement of sargassum containment barriers has yielded positive results and that any seaweed that reaches the shore is manually collected by work crews. While there is sargassum along the coast, it is cleared on a daily basis in populated areas.
He recalled that tourism service providers had previously launched an awareness campaign about the current situation of sargassum in Mahahual highlighting that most beaches are clean and that hotels have swimming pools as an alternative for visitors.
On Friday, crews of volunteers spent the day clearing over 100 tons of sargassum from the front of Mahahual. The seaweed arrived over night but was removed the following day.
Regarding the Friday sargassum clean, Mayor Yensunni Martínez said “with the strength of a great team, we collected more than 100 tons of sargassum from the beaches of our beautiful community of Mahahual.
“I sincerely appreciate the combined efforts of the Navy, the Environmental Network Association, the Mayor’s Office, the trustee and councilors, directors and coordinators, as well as all the City Hall staff and the Othón P. Blanco DIF System who joined in this great cleanup effort.”
