Cancún, Mexico — The restaurant sector in Cancún failed to meet the expectations set for the summer season, and the poor performance has continued into the first week of September.
Julio Villarreal Zapata, president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Prepared Food Industry (Cámara Nacional de la Industria Restaurantera y de Alimentos Condimentados) in Quintana Roo, stated, “At the end of this summer, our balance remains tilted toward the negative; we would love to report better figures. Summer sales were between regular and good; we did not reach above 80 percent. This is not good—we should be operating above 85 percent to move forward.”
How Does Hotel Occupancy Impact the Sector?
Villarreal attributed the poor performance to hotel occupancy levels that remained below expectations and to international uncertainty stemming from Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
The low occupancy in the restaurant sector coincides with low hotel occupancy levels, which averaged 56.1 percent in the first week of September across the state’s portfolio of nearly 136,000 rooms. Meanwhile, Cancún International Airport reported only 357 flight operations this past Tuesday.
The weekly report from the Quintana Roo Tourism Information System (Siturq) indicates that from the week of August 30 to September 5, 353,197 tourists arrived in the twelve destinations of Quintana Roo, a number insufficient to boost hotel occupancy.
The breakdown of occupancy by destination, according to the organization, was as follows: Isla Mujeres, 42.2%; Costa Mujeres, 65.3%; Cancún, 61.6%; Puerto Morelos, 45.4%; Riviera Maya, 53.9%; Tulum, 54.2%; Cozumel, 45.7%; and Grand Costa Mujeres, 31.5%.
The primary markets for the Mexican Caribbean are the United States, with 38.9%; Mexico, with 33.2%; Canada, with 12.4%; the United Kingdom, with 2.1%; Argentina, with 1.9%; and France, with just 0.9%.
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