Increased violence threatens to disrupt the explosion of tourists in Cancún
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Fifty years ago, the Mexican island of Cancún was a small fishing village with beaches. It is now one of the most popular holiday destinations in Latin America, with its hundreds of sun-drenched beaches, children playing in the white sand and young guests gazing at the party.
After being harassed during a difficult period of the epidemic, tourism is back. About 20m passengers have crossed the Cancún airport so far this year. Unlike many of its competitors, in September, October and November, it had more visitors than in the same months in 2019, and having 57% hotels is better than the Caribbean, Hawaii or Bali, according to STR, hospitality data and analysis. company.
Over the course of a year-long solar and a cheap trip for those with dollars, it has been helped by its proximity to the US – which its citizens have recently run – and that Mexico did not close its borders during the plague. It is still one of the few countries that does not need a Covid test to enter.
“It’s similar to the epidemic,” said Francisco Madrid, dean of the Center for Research and Tourism Competitiveness at Anáhuac University in Mexico City. “Every country, any tourist destination would like to have the same results. . . The beaches of Mexico have it. ”
But the fun town and surrounding areas have also made headlines recently for the wrong reasons, as a number of violence has exploded in the area.
Last month, militants stormed the Hyatt Ziva beach east of Cancún, inside a hotel lobby, and shot dead suspected drug dealers, sending tourists on tour. escape to bed. A few weeks ago, two guests were killed at a restaurant in Tulum, about 130km south of Cancún, in a shootout between rival terrorists.
Tuesday morning men on jet skis shot on the beach outside a hotel in Cancún. No one was injured, officials said.
Even in the midst of the massacre in Mexico, Quintana Roo, located in Cancún, is well-known. The death toll is 28 per 100,000 people so far this year in southeastern Mexico, compared with 18.5 per 100,000 people.
The governor of Quintana Roo has said that the two largest pharmaceutical companies in the country, Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel, work in government, attracted by the huge market.
Local hotel officials also expressed frustration last month, referring to the recent violence in the bloody and brutal war between terrorists who want to sell and distribute drugs in the region.
“With great shock, grief and dismay, we are seeing the violence continue,” said the Association of Hotels in Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres. “Tourism and economic growth are not just increasing.”
In response, the government launched a new foreign security force in the country last week with more than 1,400 people. National Guard the army.
“We are promoting security, national security in the cities of Quintana Roo… People have died, Mexicans and foreigners, and it will not happen again,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in November.
“My mother was the one who impressed me the most,” said Sharif LaPalma, a dual citizen of Argentina and the US, on vacation with my high school friends off the coast of Puerto Morelos, south of Cancún. “Seeing. . . the soldiers on the streets make you realize that ‘Well something is happening here’, but we have never encountered anything. “
Although tourist attractions are generally safe, about 85 percent of Cancún residents say they feel insecure in the city, which is higher than most other cities in the country, according to a survey by INEGI.
Cheating is also a major problem for local businesses, though not openly discussed. A shopkeeper near the beach said the terrorists had demanded money for the attack several times but simply hung up the phone and stopped it for now.
“If they come and take my money, I will close it,” said the man, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Although security is tight, tourists know that if they stay at the hotel, they will be fine.
“Where we come from is terrible. . . there is no analogy, ”says Héctor, a visitor from Monterrey. “All the tourists I met never leave the hotel area. . . They know it is dangerous. ”
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