Grupo Lomas Cuts Workdays and Boosts Promotion to Shield Mexican Caribbean Tourism

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Hotel group Grupo Lomas has reworked its commercial strategy to protect the Mexican Caribbean’s stability after a bruising low season, cutting workdays instead of jobs and channeling its own money into promotion as public tourism budgets dry up.

“We are very hopeful that starting in November we will begin to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I think the missing summer season hit all of us hard, but hope is already in sight,” said Dolores López Lira, president and founder of the group, which operates hotels in Cancún and the Riviera Maya.

López Lira said the slump stemmed from a drop in visitors and the absence of official promotion. The company is now preparing to capture demand during the coming winter season, while trying to lay the groundwork for a stronger summer further out.

She attributed the recent difficulties to several factors: the appreciation of the peso, rising labor costs and competition from destinations such as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

With no public advertising money available, Grupo Lomas is spending its own resources to promote itself in North America and to capitalize on growth in the Canadian market, where air connectivity keeps expanding.

To soften the financial hit without firing anyone, the company agreed so-called solidarity days with its 4,700 employees, averaging two unpaid workdays per worker. The unprecedented measure will end in November, when the winter inflow of visitors arrives, allowing the company to keep its workforce intact.

“There is no internal budget either, so everything we can squeeze out of revenue we are putting into promotion, because that is the only way we have to recover,” López Lira said.

The group is also working to diversify its source markets, strengthening partnerships in Central and South America and leaning on domestic travelers.

For Grupo Lomas, the winter season is a chance to consolidate revenue and project a solid structure heading into the summer, with a mix of commercial effort and worker loyalty seen as key to keeping the destination’s leadership intact.