Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The sargassum seen on Cancun and other beaches has led to the cancellation of some reservations. Rodrigo de la Peña, President of the Hotel Association of Cancun, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres says although there have been cancellations, they have been few.
“Sargassum cancellations, I know it’s an important issue and the truth is there have been very few cancellations. I have the data here from talking to all the hotels, so it really hasn’t been a significant issue,” he stated.
He acknowledged that poor promotion of the reality of the sargassum on state beaches has played into some of those cancellations. He said work is being done on campaigns to reduce the negative impact starting with the Hotel Association’s internal promotion committee.
“We are sharing all the good news we have because Quintana Roo has so many attributes. We are a truly great state with many areas to highlight to mitigate these issues,” he said.
De la Peña detailed that Hard Rock, for example, has reported a few cancellations due to sargassum along with Dream Vista Gran Oasis who have also reported a handful of hotel cancellations related to sargassum.
He reported that in Puerto Morelos there has not been any direct sargassum-related cancellations, and in Playa del Carmen, there have been so few they are not even being taken into account.
According to de la Peña, in addition to promotional campaigns by the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council, they are working to counter the sargassum impact by promoting other options such as the best pools.
“North American tourists, who are the predominant market, are very much pool tourists. Of course the beach is what they see the most and what they charge the most for in hotels, but they love being by the pool and in the bars and restaurants, so we haven’t really had a series of massive cancellations due to sargassum,” he said.
