Tourism from the United States to Mexico has slowed down this year and is not meeting expectations due to a number of reasons including travel warnings and advisories posted by the U.S. State Department, according to the Mexican Tourism Board.
In places such as Cancun and the Yucatán Peninsula, hotel stays are said to be down by as much as 56 percent.
On the Pacific Ocean side of Mexico, at Nuevo Nayarit resorts, vendors seem to outnumber tourists on the beaches.
During a visit last week to the area, a reporter saw very few people walking on the sand, with hundreds of beach chairs and empty palapas.
At the Único Hotel, the pool area was wide open with fewer than two dozen people sunbathing or gathering at swim up bars.
The hotel said the property was about half full.
Flights from Tijuana to popular tourist destinations in Mexico are reportedly running at about 65 percent capacity.
“In previous years, it’s been very good, but now it’s really slow,” said Sebastian Flores, a beach vendor.
Flores who was selling bracelets and hand-painted bowls, claimed this is as slow as he has ever seen it in his 20 years of selling merchandise to tourists on the beach.
“This harms us a lot, the economy is down already so if we don’t sell, we don’t make anything,” he said.
Salvador, who says he has been a vendor for more than four decades, says they started noticing a difference once President Trump took office.
“His policies and politics are scaring many visitors from coming down here like they used to,” he said. “There are many people in the United States with papers, but they are afraid to leave because they think they won’t be able to return home after a vacation in Mexico.”
Salvador also blames the economy north of the border.
“People have no money, nothing left over for travel.”
According to USA Today, U.S. airlines such as American and Delta are cutting back flights from several U.S. cities to Mexico’s beach destinations to match the drop in demand.
