Busy Vacation Time: 889,000 Visitors

(Acapulco, AN 4 January) Visitors to Guerrero for the Christmas-New Year’s holidays numbered 889,000, including Acapulco, Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa and Taxco, according to the State Public Safety Department. This counts arrivals by auto, bus and air, and includes both national and international tourism. Along the beaches, locals made 168 rescues, helped 45 lost children find their parents and took care of 23 medical emergencies. Five persons drowned. Along the main roads leading into Acapulco, police reported 31 accidents caused by speeding, injuring 29 and killing 7. A total of 2,333 autos received roadside assistance for mechanical breakdowns.

Hotel occupancy has dropped from its nearly sold-out position to about 75% as the high season continues into the first full week of the New Year. Cruise ships continue to arrive. Yesterday it was the Coral Princess, with 2,136 passengers aboard. Acapulco’s tourism secretary, Jéssica García Rojas, estimates that Acapulco has a “floating tourist population” of about 41,000 visitors, which should continue strong until just after Easter. This represents a 4% increase over last year.

Meanwhile, some in the tourist services industry report negligible improvement in this year-end season over the last one. The 500 or so tour guides possessing federal credentials still are pressing to ban un-credentialed taxis and tour guides from the Marine Terminal and to improve security for the passengers. In 2009 the problem of the flu epidemic reduced tourist traffic, and in 2010 it was the reported violence. Worse still, the current cruise ship season (September to May) will end with about 10% fewer arrivals than in the past year.