Locals Save Downtown Playa del Carmen Eateries

Playa del Carmen — Restaurants and eateries in downtown Playa del Carmen are being saved by local patrons in the face of a tourism downturn caused by sargassum seaweed arrivals and the international policies of the Donald Trump administration; businesses in the city's central district are barely managing to stay operational.

Hope for the End of the Year

Regarding this situation, Jenny Beatriz Márquez Reyes, the manager of the restaurant El Quereque, which specializes in Veracruz-style food, stated that despite the low numbers they have been experiencing for months, they maintain expectations that sales will increase in December and for the year-end holidays.

"The locals, there is no tourism, it's very rare to see tourism here in this area, we don't have tourism, following the sargassum wash-up the tourism stopped coming… in other years tourism would come, many Americans would visit us and they would leave delighted with the food, Colombians, Venezuelans, we have had tourists from all over; we hope that in December sales will pick up, as it is supposed that the sargassum is gone and that more tourism will come."

Back-to-School Season Hurt the Economy

She added that another factor that has considerably affected their sales was the back-to-school period, which left the pockets of local patrons empty, a situation that is being reflected in businesses across the city.

"It has been quite low, very low, not just September, we have been dragging this for months now, a pretty significant decline compounded by the start of classes, which makes the low sales even more pronounced, I believe we are not the only ones, everyone complains, the restaurants in the area have had this conversation, compounded by the rising prices of supplies, in the kitchen, everything is getting more expensive, the basic food basket is very expensive."