Quintana Roo Closes Summer Vacation Season With Low Hotel Occupancy

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo ended its summer vacation season with disappointing hotel occupancy rates, as the economic situation, sargassum and price increases tied to the soccer World Cup took a toll on tourism, a business leader said.

José Mac-Liberty, vice president of tourism for the Canaco Chetumal-Tulum chamber of commerce, said the season delivered lower visitor numbers across the state and nationwide.

“We’re happy the vacation period is over, and we’d like to say it was a success, but the truth is we saw a decline in tourist arrivals throughout the state — not only in Quintana Roo but across the country,” he said.

Mac-Liberty described the season as part of a broader slowdown in tourism activity at the state, national and international levels.

He cited sargassum and jet fuel costs as factors, but said the World Cup had the biggest impact because it drove up prices in destinations that were not hosting matches.

“The World Cup made us look like an expensive destination and prevented reservations from growing,” he said. “Tourist numbers fell, and we stayed at between 60 and 70 percent occupancy when the projection for the high season was at least 80 percent.”

Looking ahead to the low season, Mac-Liberty said the chamber plans to strengthen promotional efforts for southern Quintana Roo destinations to improve expectations for December and erase the negative image left by the summer.

He acknowledged shortcomings in communication and promotion, saying travelers may have a distorted view of costs, services and sargassum conditions along the coast.

“People think the entire Quintana Roo coastline has sargassum, but that’s not true,” he said, stressing the importance of getting state and federal tourism authorities to direct more attention to the south of the state for greater diversification.