Tourism Secretary: 70% Hotel Occupancy

(Chilpancingo, JG 1 November) The State Secretary of Tourism Promotion (SEFOTUR) has released information that the state-wide hotel occupancy for this “All Souls Day” long weekend reached 69.9%. In the Diamond Zone of Acapulco, the figure was 81.5%. The city-wide average was 66%. Taxco registered 73.7% and Ixtapa 85.5%, with Zihuatanejo at 40.7%. SEFOTUR’s data include the status of 1,576 guest rooms in the Diamond Zone, 6,456 rooms in the Golden Zone, and 2,635 in Acapulco’s Traditional Zone. The figures for Taxco, Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo are 733, 2,635 and 457 respectively.

The government agency was careful to state that these figures do not include the “non-hotel supply” of accommodations, which usually means the “informal” renting of rooms in guest houses. In a sense, hotels also compete with the tens of thousands of time-shares and vacation homes (and villas) in the hands of absentee owners, who either arrive for the holiday or let friends use their places. Judging by the traffic on the Costera Alemán, the city seemed very crowded over the weekend.