Like the Xcaret group, the nautical sector in the northern area of Quintana Roo is finding it necessary to cut operating costs in order to avoid permanent closures in 2024.
Ricardo Muleiro, general director of the Nautical Associates of Quintana Roo, announced that the main shipping companies are stopping operations every day in order to reduce fuel costs, in addition to the fact that they are using solidarity days among their employees, that is, days off without pay.
The companies that are applying this rest a few days a week, along with all their staff, to concentrate their activities on the days when they are expected to receive the most tourists, “this maximizes their expenses and reduces their operating expenses,” explained the nautical businessman.
There are other companies that rest half of their staff and their fleet of boats, with the aim of avoiding permanent layoffs of their employees. These practices, he said, have been implemented in the sector since at least September of this year.
“One of the data that we have managed to recover is that in a reef area, until August of this year we were operating 27% below 2023; these are data that tell us how tourism is going in general; it is a reef area that receives visits of up to 6,000 people a day,” he explained.
Another of the sectors hardest hit by the low influx of tourism is the restaurant sector. The leader of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac) in Cancun, Julio Villareal, did not rule out the possibility that for the first half of next year, at least 10 or 15% of the consumption centers that operate in Cancun decide to cut hours, payroll or simply close permanently.
He indicated that 2024 has been very complicated due to various factors such as the lower availability of airplane seats to the Mexican Caribbean, the increase in the price of airplane tickets, the elections in the United States and Mexico, as well as security issues.
“There are diners, but they consume less, the average check dropped from 15 to 20%, that is, if you used to consume a thousand pesos now you consume 800 pesos, because the money is not enough. They do go out but they do not consume because their purchasing power is reduced,” he explained.
Source: eleconomista
