Imagine in the whole world the most tourist dependent place is the Carribean. All the islands depend
for their economies on travel and tourism.
Arguably
in Mexico the
most tourist dependent place is the Yucatan Peninsula.
It was conceived as a tourist
and travel destination.
A world-class place attracting people from around the world and it's been very successful.
Millions of people have been arriving
Going to XCARET, Xel-Ha
Chichen Itza, Tulum, Coba,
Play del Carmen. All these fantastic areas all the way up to Cancun which has
the biggest discos and nightclubs and
all these fantastic activities. Now these, like Cancun, grew overnight from virtually
nothing itno a city of a million.
Playa del Carmen ten thousand population.
A few years later a hundred thousand population. The growth has been phenomenal.
Everything was on track
except
since 2005, the area has taken some really bad hits
First of course in 2005 was the hurricane
that basically planted itself right across Yucatan Peninsula by Playa del Carmen
devastating the area.
Resorts were damaged. The cruise ship terminal in Cozumel was
literally washed away. A concrete terminal.
I snorkeled where parts of this terminal are still in the water. It is amazing to see underwater.
But the point is is that the area was devastated in 2005
You'd think that they would pull out of that
but along comes the
US economic collapse of Wall street.
People losing their . . .
retirement funds. Their house is being foreclosed upon and what has to be remembered is that
the Yucatan Peninsula
gets most of it's tourists and tourism from the United States
That is where most of the tourists come from. It's close by, easy to access, many airlines
service it. So when the tourism from America falls down it is felt
big time
Now that's strike number two.
You think it's all over.How much more can these people take? But then comes strike
number three
Remember the big
swine flu pandemic - it started in Mexico
It came to the United States
Suddenly the world health organization is throwing it's fit
and
even airlines are no longer servicing
Mexico, including Cancun.
Cruise ships are not coming into the terminals in Cancun.
That cost thousands of jobs around the Yucatan Peninsula in the travel and tourism industry,
and we're not just talking about people working in hotels, but think of all these people;
The venders at
archaeological sites. In cities besides the roads. If you travel down there
people driving buses, taxis delivering goods
The whole thing and it's a big economic impact.
Now when you don't think that they can take any more
now it appears that the
drug wars that have been so prevalent
along the US Mexico border
are spreading into the Yucatan Peninsula. Whether this is a factual reality
or just a perception
I don't know yet. I know that Cindy and I were
looking to get back to the Riviera Maya because
it is one of our favorite destinations. It's beautiful.
But if there's a perception that it is not safe. It's dangerous.
You're going to see tourism again, take a big hit.
And that's something I don't think the area can afford. END
