According to Germán Ernesto Kotsiras Ralis Cumplido, Secretary of Tourism in Puerto Vallarta, cruises will once again return to Puerto Vallarta after a year of cancelations due to COVID-19.
The Secretary of Tourism affirmed that the reactivation of cruises will begin in August with the arrival of a Carnival Cruise, which will return trips through the Pacific and the Mexican Caribbean.
He pointed out that strict health protocols, negative coronavirus tests, sanitation, and other processes that guarantee the health safety of passengers and crew will be followed for the arrival.
“There is good news for the tourism sector in the coming months with the gradual and responsible reactivation of cruises, a segment that was canceled for a year due to the health emergency, and which will undoubtedly be a trigger for the economic recovery, thanks to the influx and economic stimulus that they generate,” he said.
According to the Integral Port Administration (API), in 2018, 137 cruise ships arrived in Puerto Vallarta with 360,812 cruise passengers, which benefited the economy by an estimated $651 million pesos. In 2019, it increased to 181 cruise ships, which transported 482,335 passengers. It is estimated that the economic impact was close to $870 million pesos.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 the cruises were canceled, so at the end of the year, only 73 cruise ships arrived, with 151,359 passengers, mostly in the first trimester of the year. It is estimated that the economic benefit was around $272 million pesos last year.
