Cancun, Q.R. — The Secretary of Quintana Roo Tourism says inaccurate news about the area does not have an affect on visitors. Marisol Vanegas Pérez, Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo says false and inaccurate reporting only seeks to damage the image of the destination, referring to the recent incident with students from Puebla as well as images of sargassum and reports of contaminated cenotes.
In an interview with Origen Radio, she expressed the importance of always speaking the truth, noting that the region has a public policy of trust, which can be seen in the amount of arriving tourists. She said that the region is “sanitary, certain and safe”, things that are very important.
Vanegas Pérez admitted that false news is common, especially across social media networks, which is why she suggests people check with official sources for their information rather than fall victim to heightened comments.
Earlier this month, health officials in Puebla claimed a “mass infection” of covid after 30 students from a graduation class returned from a Cancun vacation. After testing, those figures ended up being only three students. Their origin of their infections remains unknown.
Since then, other reports of students from Coahuila and Bolovia also being infected while vacationing in Cancun have surfaced as have articles about contaminated centoes in Tulum. Earlier in the week, a UK site reported on the alleged contamination of 80 percent of the cenotes in Tulum without contextualizing that they were based on a study carried out 10 years ago.
Julio Villagómez Villalobos, municipal director of Tourism pointed out that there is no reason to publish a report using data from a decade ago without indicating the age of the information.
“It is bad publicity,” he said. “It would be interesting to know the intention of looking for that data and presenting it as if it were current, ” he said explaining that over the years, the municipal drainage network has been expanded and updated, incorporating the neighborhoods. The issue is the “rebound” in media taking this up, thinking that it is something current, he remarked.
Vanegas Pérez said that the biased news has not affected the Mexican Caribbean, explaining that earlier this spring, there was the anticipation of the arrival of 2.8 million visitors for the summer holidays, a figure she says has since been increased to 3.1 million. She noted that in 2019, before the pandemic, that figure was 3.3 million for the same summer holiday period.
