Major travel companies say that bookings for Puerto Vallarta have held steady despite civil unrest that occurred in and around the city earlier this month, prompting three cruise lines to skip their calls to the city.
Earlier in the week, officials met with cruise operators and released a statement that future cruises will continue as planned and the city, state, and federal government agencies would keep lines of communication open with cruise lines in the future.
“The Mark Travel Corporation is not making changes to our product offering to or in Puerto Vallarta. In fact, Funjet Vacations recently increased their charter capacity into the destination,” said Lynn Clark, Mark Travel’s vice president, travel agency engagement.
Clark said that departures to Puerto Vallarta are leaving on their normal schedules and the company has not received any calls of concerns from customers or travel agents about the destination.
MLT Vacations, which operates Delta Vacations, said it, too, has not seen any cancellations.
“To date, our customers have not been impacted and we are seeing demand for Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit vacations remain strong,” noted Elizabeth Moriarty, MLT’s vice president for product development.
Apple Vacations said that it has been in daily contact with Amstar, its destination management company in Mexico, as well as with resort partners in Puerto Vallarta, which have confirmed that the resort areas of Puerto Vallarta have not been affected.
“Our customers are enjoying their vacations without incident,” Apple Vacations wrote in an email to travel agents.
According to a statement from Agustin Alvarez, director of the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, the city of Puerto Vallarta and other areas in the Mexican state of Jalisco experienced disturbances on Friday, May 1.
“The local city and state police quickly responded and put an end to the situation within a matter of hours. Peace was restored and no further events have occurred. No harm came to any residents or visitors to Puerto Vallarta and no disturbance, restriction or limits have affected tourists in Puerto Vallarta,” stated Alvarez. “All tourism infrastructure and services including the port, marina, airport, convention center, hotels and resorts, tours, and transport remained fully operational.”
