tourism

Is the tourist traffic really down? Just spoke with a person that was in ixtapa last week and their hotel was only 20% occupied, Ala cart restaraunts were closed etc.

Tourism has been down for the past 11 years, since 9/11.

Ixtapa's hotels are at odds with the rest of the community, and their almost universal model of exclusively "all-included" packages has caused the economic disaster we see in the shopping centers of Ixtapa. Their hotel association claims this year will be better than last, and it is possible the big high-rise waterfront hotel will actually have more warm bodies, but in their corporate quest for quantity they have stupidly traded off quality, and the purchasing power and purchasing practices of their guests is the lowest ever in the history of Ixtapa, as is clearly evidenced by the decaying shopping areas. Unfortunately apart from the pay to their employees, Ixtapa's hotels contribute nothing to the community and haven't ever since around former disgraced Governor Rubén Figueróa threatened the former manager of the then Sheraton Hotel Bob Niederhauser when he met with the governor along with other local hotel managers to ask for accountability in a state tax called "Protur" all local businesses pay that is supposed to be used for promotion but that apparently is a personal cash box of corrupt state officials. Bob was the last of the big Ixtapa waterfront high-rise hotel managers to actually involve an Ixtapa hotel in community affairs and invite the community to the hotel. Bob and his wife packed their things and were gone from Mexico the next day. That was back in late 1994 or early 1995, I believe. Ixtapa has only deteriorated since then, and absolutely nothing of substance has changed in the state government, although the current governor is the first non-cacique we've had in decades and I believe the only non-partisan governor we've ever had.

Last week was no special week in Ixtapa and there was no reason for there to have been many tourists. Events in Iguala have undoubtedly caused changed plans for many vacationers to our state, but Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa is so far removed from Iguala that we are only minimally affected. Once school lets out we expect the roads to be full with cars and buses of vacationers as is normal for this time of year. January will be the real test to see if our regional tourist season is a boom or a bust.

Aren't you glad you asked?