Tourists with less money come to Cancun; Airbnb gets the blame

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Association of Vacation Clubs of Q. Roo warn that the destinations of the Mexican Caribbean are becoming cheaper due to the lodging platform. 

The low costs of the 41,000 units of the vacation platforms are making destinations in the Mexican Caribbean cheaper, mainly affecting hotels by having prices up to 200 dollars lower, which does not allow for greater competitiveness. 

Miriam Cortés Franco, president of the Association of Vacation Clubs of Quintana Roo (Acluvaq), explained that these units are affecting prices: while the platforms register an increase in units, the hotels have seen a drop in occupations:

“According to the reports from the authorities, in the first four months of the year they added about 100 more units that are rented through digital platforms which, although it attracts tourists, we have to think about what type of tourists we want for the destinations.” 

Derived from this, they are noticing a change in the market with less purchasing power, which is why it is necessary to apply a strong hand for regulations, in which they have operating licenses, municipal and state payments, which oblige the platforms to raise their costs, since they are still unfair competition for the hotel sector.

“We have asked the authorities to do more in this regard, since it is necessary that even these units are not in areas considered dangerous, in order to avoid affectations with tourists.”

According to the State Secretary of Tourism (Sedetur), in Quintana Roo there are about 41 thousand units of vacation platforms such as Airbnb, which maintain stays of up to 70% on average.

In April of this year, the new regulation to regulate vacation platforms in Quintana Roo came into force. With this it will be necessary for them to be in a register, for them to pay 6% of the Lodging Tax.

For this, the platforms must make their host registry known, to begin paying taxes and processing their operating licenses.

Source: Sipse