Demand for Cancun Growing

The current economic situation is having a positive effect on the demand for the Cancun Tourism Product. Bookings to popular beach destinations are strong, according to travel companies, and volunteering vacations continue to gain momentum.

Mexico attributes the positive tourism trend to a tumbling peso, which lost 30 percent of its value in 2008. In August, it was trading at 8 to the dollar. Now it is 11 to the dollar.

Tourism officials say Mexico saw 3 percent more visitors who spent an estimated 4 percent more in 2008, with tourists flocking to its beaches and cobble-stoned streets even during the global economic crisis. And, unlike most tourist destinations around the world, there is no sign that this year will be any different.

Another advantage is the drop in jet fuel prices, which have made flying cheaper and Mexico more attractive to North Americans looking to save some money.

Cancun, Mexico’s top beach destination, had an occupancy rate of more than 90 percent during the holiday season and officials expect at least 85 percent of the Caribbean resort’s 31,000 rooms to be occupied during the winter months.

Cancun remains the preferred beach spot in Mexico for spring break, with some 30,000 revelers expected to visit this year. The same number came to Cancun last year, according to Quintana Roo state’s Tourism Department.

Some 30,000 are expected to visit the beach spot in Mexico this year. The same number came to Cancun last year, according to Quintana Roo’s Tourism Office.

Brian Hoyt, a spokesman for Orbitz Worldwide Inc., which owns Cheaptickets.com and Orbitz.com, said the company’s hotel bookings in Mexico were up 25 percent in the first 11 months of 2008, compared to the same period the prior year.

“There’s never been a better time to travel (to Mexico) from a value standpoint than right now,” Hoyt said.

The Tourism Department says more than 18 million tourists, about 80 percent from the U.S., visited Mexico between January and October 2008 and spent about $14 billion.

Mexico is counting on tourism to drive it through the global economic crisis, with more aggressive ad campaigns on the Internet, the construction of a $7.5-billion resort in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa, and increased promotion in places such as China, Russia and India, where the number of people with disposable income is rapidly growing.

That will likely pay off. With endless beaches, quaint colonial mountain towns, ruins, and booming cities filled with restaurants and museums, the industry employs some 2.25 million people.

If you are thinking about visiting Cancun or investing call Irene Barnes at 250-432-9200