Hoteliers reject reduction proposal Council for Tourism Promotion of Quintana Roo

Cancun, QR. The president of the hoteliers of Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres, Jesús Almaguer Salazar, rejected the proposal of the local deputies to reduce the budget of the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Roo (CPTQ) by 2023.

The hotel leader assured that there are unfavorable conditions in the national tourism industry that make it unfeasible to propose a decrease in resources, such as the fact that, despite the rapid recovery in the arrival of travelers, cancun it is losing market share of US tourism compared to other destinations such as Los Cabos.

During the presentation of a statistical report called Panorama of the Tourist Activity of the Mexican Caribbeanthe hotel leader, together with Francisco Madrid, director of the Center for Tourism Research and Competitiveness of the Anáhuac University, explained that while at the beginning of 2022 the participation of the Mexican Caribbean in the US air market, that is, in the number of flights and seats to the international airport, it was 16.8%, for September 2022 it is just 7.6 percent.

The loss of participation Mexican Caribbean in the US air market it is actually a national phenomenon, because while in January of this year the national participation regarding flights and seats from the United States was 35%, for September it is only 17.2 percent.

Based on this, both the hotel leader and the academic from the Anahuac University considered it nonsense to propose a reduction in the hotel’s budget. Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Rooas they anticipated that with the normalization of competing destinations in the Mexican Caribbean after the decrease in Covid-19 infections, competition for international tourism will intensify and more than ever it is necessary to maintain the presence of tourism brands such as Cancun and the Riviera Maya in the main international markets.

During this 2022 the CPTQ has an assigned budget of 630 million pesos, in addition to a debt inherited by the outgoing administration of former Governor Carlos Joaquín González of another 600 million pesos to suppliers of the agency, that is, advertising agencies, airlines, among others. .

The proposal to reduce the annual expenditure of this organization was made public during the installation of the Tourism Commission of the state congress on October 21, in which its members stated that there are other needs in the state, in addition to the fact that the Caribbean Mexican “sells itself”.

This was commented by the secretary of the commission, Luz María Beristain, who also assured that for many years the tourism promotion of Quintana Roo has been the petty cash of previous administrations for the diversion of resources.

He also said that destinations such as the Mexican Caribbean sell themselves and do not need promotion, as instead health or education in the state require it.

Julián Ricalde, president of the commission, said for his part that they will be vigilant that the assigned budget is used in what is truly necessary, without superfluous expenses, because although the budget designation is the power of the executive branch, the deputies can make modifications to the proposal of the governor, Mara Lezama.

He announced that they will request the appearance of the current holder of the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Rooto report on the conditions in which the agency was delivered and specify the amount of the debt inherited from the past administration.

“Ideally, the former CPTQ managers would appear, but they are no longer there, which makes this a catwalk for new officials who can no longer respond, I have just arrived, when they ask for a timely accountability” said the deputy.

estados@eleconomista.mx

kg