Puerto Vallarta woke up Tuesday with a hotel occupancy of 15 percent; a restaurant and two hotels were closed as a result of restrictions by health authorities to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic.
A three-star hotel and a five-star Hotel. “They have not fired anyone, they are holding on, they have an important commitment,” said Ramón González Lomelí, director of Tourism and Economic Development of Puerto Vallarta.
Interviewed by telephone for the evening news program on channel 44, he explained that the owners and managers of the hotels closed their doors, but they have not fired personnel, and while they are not welcoming guests, they carry out maintenance work at the hotel.
“We woke up (yesterday) with 15 percent hotel occupancy and this is worrying, we had many years without this happening to us,” he said.
He added that “what we have to be very careful about is the base personnel.” This labor sector earns the minimum wage and now does not have tips, which, in some cases, are generous on the part of the tourist.
In Puerto Vallarta, the personnel who work for the tourism and hotel sectors are classified into three: the executive, the operations committee and the base committee. And it is the latter sector that is hit hardest, “because they have their wages, but they lack tips.”
During 2018 and 2019 hotel occupancy in Puerto Vallarta ranged from 73 to 74 percent.
Last year, the Jalisco municipality received 5,480,000 tourists; Of this amount, 3,200,000 were foreigners, the rest was domestic tourism.
“National tourism is very important, but international tourism generates foreign exchange for the country’s economy,” he said.
