Flu fears devastate Mexico hotel occupancy
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Mexico’s hotel industry occupancy dropped more than 50% at the end of April and beginning of May, after the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) outbreak shattered tourist confidence. These are the findings of the latest data from STR, the world’s leading hospitality benchmarking firm.
Hotels in Mexico reported rapid occupancy decreases at the end of April and first few days of May. On Sunday 26 April, occupancy was at 36.1% (down 21.1% year-on-year), and by Wednesday 29 April, it had dropped down to 29.5% (down 46.8% year-on-year). The situation was even worse by Saturday 2 May, when occupancy had dropped to 24.4% (62.1% lower than a year prior). Overall for the week, Mexico reported a 50.7% drop in occupancy.
“Mexico was already reeling from bad publicity from gang- and drug-related violence,” said Jan Freitag (pictured), Vice President Global Development at STR. “This swine flu outbreak did not help the cause of the country’s hotel industry. The impact of H1N1 influenza is severe, but we hope it will be fairly short-lived as the international media reports on the easing of travel restrictions. However, it will likely be felt throughout the summer,” Freitag added.
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