Quintana Roo’s Summer Tourism Boosts Economy

QUINTANA ROO, Mexico — The 2.2 million tourists who visited Quintana Roo during the summer season generated an economic windfall of $1.991 billion dollars, despite the average hotel occupancy rate remaining at 69 percent throughout the six-week holiday period.

Bernardo Cueto Riestra, the Secretary of Tourism for Quintana Roo, stated that despite the moderate occupancy figures, there were significant achievements in other areas. He emphasized that beyond reaching high occupancy rates, the state successfully achieved strong visitor numbers and economic revenue. The collection of the hotel occupancy tax also increased by 17 percent.

“That shows us that there has been a greater influx and, above all, a greater economic impact. In addition, July closed with more than 528,557 jobs registered with the Mexican Social Security Institute, which represents one of the highest figures in the history of Quintana Roo,” added Cueto Riestra.

“Beyond reaching high occupancy figures, we achieved high visitor numbers and, above all, we achieved very good economic revenue figures of more than $1,991.36 million dollars that were generated this summer season.”

Regarding the 69 percent average occupancy, he highlighted that some individual destinations reached peaks of up to 83 percent during this holiday period, although he acknowledged that some others did not achieve the expected figures. However, he insisted it is important not to lose sight of the fact that the hotel infrastructure has increased to levels that place Quintana Roo among the most important in the world by number of rooms.

In fact, he said, Quintana Roo already has 136 thousand rooms and anticipated that in the next 5 years it could reach massive destinations like Las Vegas, which has 150 thousand.

“We are one of the destinations with the greatest hotel capacity in the world; we are above cities like Paris, Madrid, London; with our 136 thousand rooms we are very close to reaching a destination like Las Vegas with its 150 thousand rooms, that is why there is a lot of diversity in our hotel occupancy,” explained the official.