Sargassum Makes Seasonal Hotel Closures Unviable, Tulum Association Says

Tulum, Quintana Roo — The Tulum Hotel Association (AHT) said beachfront hotels cannot operate only during high seasons or in the months when sargassum is absent, as the seaweed now affects the Mexican Caribbean for eight to nine months a year.

AHT President David Ortiz Mena warned that normalizing temporary hotel closures due to sargassum landings would have major economic and social consequences, including the loss of permanent jobs, reduced tourism activity, and damage to communities that depend on the industry.

He said the phenomenon is no longer strictly seasonal but a structural issue that requires a permanent strategy. Ortiz Mena called for strengthening measures such as collecting sargassum at sea, protecting coastlines, ensuring proper disposal of the seaweed, and finding ways to make use of the material.

He acknowledged that hotels have made significant investments to address the problem, but said the private sector cannot bear the costs of massive sargassum arrivals indefinitely or on its own, particularly at a time of low occupancy and difficulty covering basic operating expenses.

There is still no comprehensive, consolidated estimate of the economic losses caused by sargassum in the Mexican Caribbean, Ortiz Mena said. However, he noted that some hotels spend several million pesos a month on beach cleanup during peak sargassum periods — in some cases more than double what they spend on electricity.

The impact goes beyond cleanup costs, he added, and includes canceled or reduced reservations, lower room rates, damage to the destination’s image, beach deterioration, the purchase and maintenance of machinery and barriers, hiring extra staff, and potential job losses.

As an example of the current situation, Ortiz Mena said hotels in the Tulum coastal area operating under the European plan have reported occupancy levels of around 20 percent, while all-inclusive properties are at roughly 40 percent.

He called for a comprehensive assessment of sargassum’s economic impact to determine how much the destination loses, how much hotels absorb, and what the effects are on employment and the tourism services chain.

Ortiz Mena also said the public and private sectors must establish support, coordination, and financing mechanisms to prevent sargassum-related costs from leading to closures, reduced operations, or job losses.