Mexico is back in business after hurricane

By David Browne
LONDON (eTurboNews) — Mexico is back in business while work on hurricane recovery continues. That was the message from tourism representatives at the busy Mexico stand at World Travel Market.

“Other hurricanes pass through our country, but this latest one stayed around for days. We had as much rain in one week as we usually get in a year,” said Carlos Castellanos, president of Viajes de Gala. “We are a wholesale transportation company and cover the whole country. Our buses are equipped to withstand winds of over 200 miles per hour. It was a good investment. Only three windows were broken in the whole fleet,” he told eTurboNews.

“We are here at WTM to tell the market that Mexico is up and running. We are in business. Thousands of people are working very hard to restore tourism facilities badly affected in the Yucatan Peninsula, Cancun and the whole east coast. Everything should be back to normal in December.”
Cancun and the island of Cozumel were badly hit by Hurricane Wilma in October, one of the worst on record, as it uprooted trees, ripped away shopfronts and tore roofs off houses.  Restoration is estimated to be costing about $2 billion. It was the third storm to hit Mexico in this year’s hurricane season.

Cozumel tourism officials report rapid progress in the post-hurricane Wilma clean up and restoration effort on the island. “Now that the essential services have been restored to most of the island, we have shifted our focus to prepare the island for winter visitors,” said Raul Marrufo, director of the Cozumel Tourism Promotion Board. “We are enthusiastic about our progress and look forward to a busy tourist season starting in December.”

Several hotels on Cozumel are already back to normal and others expect to be open in time for the busy Christmas season.  Some resorts are continuing to assess the damage and no date has been set for reopening, among them the Iberostar, Reef Club, El Cid Resort and Sol Melia’s Sol Cabañas and Melia Cozumel.

Officials from the Cozumel National Marine Park are optimistic and report that many reefs along the coast of Cozumel are largely undamaged. Shallow reefs, up to 35 feet deep, were most impacted, while reefs found at greater depths are reported to be in good condition.

In the resort city of Cancun electricity, drinking water, drainage and phone service are now completely restored, and the city is working hard to give its famous hotel strip a facelift. 5,000 rooms in Cancun and 13,700 in the Maya Riviera are now able to receive visitors, and thousands more will be ready by mid-December. Restoration is crucial for the livelihoods of Cancun’s 750,000 residents. The tourism industry generates over 300,000 jobs and practically the whole population lives on earnings related to tourism.

The Mexican Tourist Board is planning a series of gala events to mark the reopening of the resorts for the peak season, and is in discussions with MTV about new dates for the 4th Annual MTV Latin American Video Music Awards, which would have taken place last month in the Riviera Maya but was cancelled due to the hurricane.

November 16, 2005   Posted in: Mexico