In the last 14 days, Jalisco tripled the number of active cases of COVID -19, registering an increase of 201% in that incidence for every 100,000 inhabitants. It ranks second in the country with the most accelerated growth of this indicator in that period.
Despite this, Álvaro Garciarce Monraz, President of the Association of Hotels and Motels of Puerto Vallarta, is asking the government to allow hotels to begin opening common areas, such as their pools, to attract more visitors to the city.
“We consider that this measure is essential to be able to really reactivate the lodging in our destination,” said Garciarce Monraz.
“At the time, we are also proposing that there is access to the beach, but not the use, to obviously avoid any situation, because we are thinking of important protocols that could be applied there,” he said.
Currently, about 15 hotels out of the 100 existing in Puerto Vallarta are open, however, their occupation is low and is presented in those business class that is at 20 percent of their capacity, while others such as the resorts are open with 5 percent accommodation and others that, although open, are not yet receiving guests.
Even with only 15 hotels open in the area, they are struggling to receive any reservations while Mexico is in the peak of infections.
Compounding the problem keeping tourists away from Puerto Vallarta is the lack of testing and discrepancies between what the City of Puerto Vallarta is reporting as COVID-19 cases and what the federal government is reporting. Puerto Vallarta is reporting nearly twice the cases as the Federal Government is reporting for the area.
While Puerto Vallarta is taking precautions to make travelers feel safe, the conflicting statistics on the severity of the pandemic in the area, and throughout Mexico, will be the primary reason that tourists don’t return to the city this year.
Until the government begins widespread testing and offers more transparency on the spread of COVID-19 in Mexico, the tourism sector is going to suffer, and most estimates report that tourism won’t rebound until 2023.
In the last 14 days, Jalisco tripled the number of active cases of COVID -19, registering an increase of 201% in that incidence for . . .
