Mérida, Yucatán — Hotel infrastructure throughout the state grew slightly more than 10 percent in the last five years, said Ricardo Dájer Nahumhe, who is the president of the Mexican Chamber of Hotels in Yucatan.
Dájer Nahumhe credited a healthy tourist economy for a rise from about 11,000 to 12,500 rooms.
On the occasion of World Tourism Day, held yesterday, Dájer Nahumhe was interviewed in Diario de Yucatán about the outlook for the hotel industry in Yucatan.
Since 2010, City Express, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn, Hampton, Wyndham, Mision Express Altabrisa, Victoria, which is his property, and Technotel of Valladolid, are among the hoteliers expanding in the region.
“Yucatán tourism has been growing because Mexico also returned to its status as one of the ten most visited countries in the world,” he said. “It is true that tourism is growing in Yucatan, but we need to improve sun and beach tourism, a niche that attracts visitors most days and stay overnight.
“There is a remarkable growth of 51 to 53% from January to July last (it was previously in 40-45% on average), but if we compare to Cancun, which has an occupancy of 83-87% and overnight stays of 4 to 5 days, we are going very slow.”
Dájer Nahumh cited the sun-and-beach destination Quintana Roo, which is growing in hospitality and approaches 100,000 rooms. Queretaro and Guanajuato are growing exponentially in hospitality in the industrial and business sectors.
