Tulum’s Low Season Prompts Discounts, Staff Cuts

Tulum, Quintana Roo — A severe low season, following summer vacations that failed to provide a boost, has prompted businesses in Tulum's coastal zone to implement discounts, while some establishments in the archaeological zone have been forced to close entirely.

Antonio Cervera, the manager of the La Conde restaurant located in the coastal zone, stated that they have applied discounts on their dishes to encourage tourism and locals to consume food and beverages. He said the season has been deplorable from February until now, given that the Easter and summer holidays did not increase profits to the figures of past years.

He added that solidarity days have increased, meaning staff have more days off per week, as a way to avoid leaving them unemployed.

"What we see today is complicated, and because of this we see the necessity to lower to historically low prices, plus the staff have to rest more days per week to be able to pay the payroll and not fire them," he expressed.

Furthermore, following the change in access to the beaches and the entrance to the Jaguar National Park by the administration of the Grupo Mundo Maya, 50 percent of the local artisan stalls have had to close.

Manuel Rodríguez, an artisan vendor, said that the stallholders are living through the worst crisis in their history, which is why they are requesting that the access points be modified. He mentioned that Saturdays and Sundays, which used to be days with more activity, now appear desolate because tourists are no longer coming due to the fees charged to enter the beaches and the ruins.

"You can see that there are more and more closed stalls because tourism is not flowing, there is no money for the rents, which in this zone are at least about 12 thousand pesos monthly," he maintained.