Acapulco Optimistic About High Season
(Acapulco, AN 6 December) The early sell-out of hotel reservations for the year-end holidays has given businesses and labor unions cause for optimism about a solid high season for tourism. The Christmas-New Year’s holiday starts officially on December 15, and runs through January 6. Visitors from other parts of Mexico are expected as of December 17, when the schools let out. International visitors will start arriving a week later.
Acapulco’s Trust of Tourism Promotion, through its director, Jesus Radilla Calderón, reports that $9 million pesos have been invested in tourism promotion in the most recent three months, mainly in the United States and Canada. He predicts an increase in international tourism for the end of the year, particularly from Canada. Target markets included New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Montreal and Toronto, which are origin cities for air flights to Acapulco. Radilla also announced that the fireworks show for New Year’s will be more spectacular than ever over Acapulco Bay, at a cost of $2 million pesos.
Local unions affiliated with Mexico’s main labor confederation (CTM) have also announced optimism that the economy is finally showing signs of recovery, and that is being reflected in tourism jobs in Acapulco. They expect that as many as 10,000 temporary and hourly workers will be absorbed out of the hiring halls and into the work force for the busy Christmas-New Year’s holiday.
State Secretary of Public Safety, Juan Heriberto Salinas Altés, announced Friday “Operation Tourist Safety, Winter 2010,” an initiative that includes 10,000 state and municipal police officers. The program, set to start on December 15, will increase police patrols in the tourist areas, not only to enhance a sense of security for the tourists, but also to reduce traffic congestion and confusion along the city’s main thoroughfares.
In a separate report, lending credence to optimistic expectations about tourism in Acapulco, the federal Secretary of Tourism last week informed that international tourists arriving by air had increased by 17.8% during the first 10 months of 2010, when compared to the same period in 2009. It is 6.4% better than the performance for the first ten months of 2008. This number comprehends all arrivals into Mexico, not just Acapulco. The clear implication is that the economic pall cast over Mexico in 2009 is starting to lift. Of the total of 8.24 million passengers accounted for, 60% came from the United States, 14% from Canada, and 3.2% from the UK. Argentina was the principal source of tourism from elsewhere in Latin America with 1.8% of the total.
