Mexico Hotel Occupancy Drops

Accordingly to Travel Weekly (the newspaper of the travel industry), occupancy rates at Mexico hotels dropped to 24% after the Swine Flu (officially called the H1N1 virus) outbreak.  That represents a drop in over 50% from the same week in 2008.

My experience in Cancun earlier in the week was consistent with these numbers, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see the occupancy rate plunge even lower.

High schools were reopening the day after I left, and the lower schools were scheduled to reopen next week.  The city seems to be getting a handle on things, and slowly starting to return to everyday life.

Sadly, the echo effect that the swine flu will have on the Mexican economy will last long past the reopening of the schools.

If you’d like to hear more of my thoughts about traveling to Mexico, especially my recent experience in Cancun, I was interviewed by Addison Schonland, from the IAG Group (an aviation consulting firm) and you can listen to the IAG podcast.

Photo credit:  personal collection