Tulum, Q.R. — David Ortiz Mena, President of the Tulum Hotel Association, calls it “unwise” to seek personal gain by harming tourism. Otriz Mena says several groups of tourists canceled their reservations due to the repeated highway protests by Tulum taxi drivers.
In an interview Friday, Ortiz Mena, said while their actions caused several groups of tourists to cancel their stay, that is only what can be measured.
He said “there is a greater impact, which we cannot quantify, which is the damage done to the image of the destination. This goes beyond a few hours or an afternoon as it undermines visitors’ confidence in coming or returning to the destination.”
Ortiz Mena has strongly condemned the highway roadblock protests in recent weeks by members of the Taxi Drivers Union. He says it is unfortunate that taxi drivers are not more aware of the consequences of their actions because by hurting tourism, they also hurt their own economy.
“It is unacceptable and we must not tolerate that visitors are affected in this way. We trust that the authorities will do everything possible to prevent events like this from happening again because the economy of Quintana Roo depends largely on our visitors,” he said.
Ortiz Mena also acknowledged the acts of violence being carried out by state taxi drivers, in particular, at the Cancun airport against Uber drivers.
“The scenes of violence seen at the Cancun airport have an impact on the image we have as a destination. It affects us all,” he said. “We wonder why the summer was not as we expected. Here is an example of what not to do.”
On two occasions last week, Tulum taxi drivers protested the arrest of their union leader. On Wednesday, hundreds of taxi drivers protested for the second time after their union leader Eliazar “N” was officially charged with the murder and attempted murder of four people.
Taxis were parked along the highway between Tulum and Playa del Carmen severely delaying traffic and in some instances, causing tourists to miss flights.
