Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Occupancy rates in Playa del Carmen have been below expectations, says municipal tourism. Daniel Bellamy García, the Director of Tourism Marketing and Promotion for the municipality, says hotel occupancy rates are between 40 and 60 percent.
According to Bellamy, centrally located downtown hotels have reported an average 40 percent fill rate, while larger hotels outside the city are reporting 60 percent.
While sargassum has played a factor, he says the decline cannot be attributed only to the seaweed, but other factors such as political and migration tensions on U.S. border which has generated changes in travel patterns.
Despite a challenging pre-summer, Bellamy maintained that the outlook for the true low season, which is September, is not as negative. He says that arriving sargassum has lessened and current beach conditions have improved considerably, noting that tourists are also better informed, which could prevent a drastic drop in visitor arrivals.
“Promoting beach activities and diversifying the tourism offering will be key to maintaining the recovery,” he said.
During the July 31 session of the Commission of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators, Bellamy emphasized that the municipality receives more than six million visitors annually from all over the world with an average occupancy rate of 79.5 percent.
He said they are working on the promotion of cenote tourism, the implementation of community routes in Uxuxubi and the World Travel Awards nominations. The goal is to attract new markets and strengthen the destination’s identity as a benchmark for sustainable, authentic, world-class tourism.
