Airlift to Mexican state home to Cancun and Playa del Carmen already exceeding 2019 levels
ANN RUPPENSTEIN
As travel from the US and Canada resumed, the director of the Quintana Roo Tourism Board said the Mexican state — which covers popular destinations like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum — had to adapt quickly to facilitate the entry requirements needed for travellers to get back home.
“We had to prepare because in the winter we had between 12,000 to 15,000 North Americans so we needed to be ready to take 15,000 tests every day,” said Dario Flota Ocampo, speaking with Travel Courier at the newly launched Wyndham Alltra Cancun. “Here in Quintana Roo, the… tourism office in the state prepared protocols that were recognized by WTTC as the first destination in the continent to be awarded with the Safe Travels recognition, and I think that was one of the key factors for the recovery of this region.”
Dario Flota Ocampo, Director of Quintana Roo Tourism Board and Bernardo Cueto Riestra, Secretary of Tourism of the State of Quintana Roo
Although Canadian arrivals were lagging compared to US visitors last year, he pointed out that 2020 was starting out to be a record year from the market with impressive numbers in January and February prior to that start of global travel restrictions.
“Recovery is already a reality in Quintana Roo,” added Bernardo Cueto Riestra, secretary of tourism of the State of Quintana Roo. “We have today numbers that are in the stages of the numbers that we had in 2019. We are so happy because we have a very strong recovery in all of our destinations.”
Notably, airlift into Cancun is already ahead of 2019 levels.
“Today we have more connectivity than before the pandemic,” said Flota Ocampo. “At this time we have eight flights from different cities in Canada.”
Due to some recent incidents across the state, questions surrounding traveller safety in the destination have come to light. Flota Ocampo stressed that those were isolated cases and that there are extremely low levels of violence involving tourists per year.
“Even during the pandemic, one of the biggest investments made by the state was consistence of security. We have here in Cancun a very state-of-the-art centre and technology for security, almost two and a half thousand cameras along the state from Cancun to Playa del Carmen and Tulum and a lot of technology like face recognition cameras,” he said. “[These incidents] were mentioned because they were in public places. Fortunately, in both cases and due to this technology, the authorities have arrested those responsible.”
