Rooms available are reduced, as well as hotel occupancy and average days of stay, according to Federal Sectur data.
Mazatlan , Sinaloa .- When it comes to numbers, the figures are cold and revealing, beyond phrases such as “Mazatlan is fashionable” or “Its living a ‘boom’ in the tourism sector of the port “; in general, the statistics break with the dream to face a reality with their feet on the ground, because they show the facts from irrefutable numerical data.
The tourist activity does not escape the auguries of the rulers, officials, businessmen and politicians who seek to promote the destination with encouraging expressions, rather than with figures adjusted to hard and real data.
An example is the great event, so widespread by the municipal, state and federal governments on the Tourism Tianguis that took place from April 16 to 19 of last year in Mazatlan, which would put Sinaloa in the spotlight all over the world, and it would generate a rebound in tourist activity, attracting new markets.
The same governor, Quirino Ordaz Coppel, on a visit to Los Pinos, said in May last year that thanks to the success of the Tourism Tianguis, Mazatlan now enjoys a relaunch in tourism, which covers the entire state.
As a result, it was reported that there were 44 thousand business appointments, 18 percent more than in 2017; 1,500 buyers from 64 countries were registered, among them: Aruba, Australia, Croatia, the Arab Emirates and Ireland; and 935 national and international companies were present, as well as representatives of 11 airlines that collectively transport 40 percent of travelers entering and leaving Mexico, as well as tour operators that bring 5.2 million visitors to the country.
Only in the organization of the 43 edition of the Tianguis, the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico allocated 70 million pesos.
However, in real numbers, what results did the Tianguis Turístico Mazatlán 2018, for the port and Sinaloa?
Statistics do not show the ‘boom’ of the tourism sector in Mazatlan.
Except for a recognition that was received in Guayaquil, Ecuador, called The World Travel Awards as the best tourist destination in Mexico, Latin America and Central America, in which it competed with more than 200 cities, Mazatlan and Sinaloa still waiting for the tourist growth that was projected with hype and saucer before during and after the great event.
THE COLD NUMBERS …
On the contrary, that year, statistics show that Sinaloa decreased by 1,084 available rooms, which represents 7.24 percent less than in 2017; while Mazatlan fell by 855 rooms, 8.57 percent less, according to the Statistics and Analysis Unit of CODESIN , with information from federal Sectur.
From January to December 2018, the entity recorded 6 million 683 thousand 183 night tourists, which meant a decrease of 17.90 percent with respect to the previous year, and in the case of Mazatlan the figure fell by 23.26 percent, when registering 1 million 568 thousand tourists night.
In the case of hotel occupancy, officials and tourism entrepreneurs have highlighted the numerical increase from 55.71 to 56.05 percent; but the statistics show that it decreased in average stay from 2.3 to 1.8 days, at the state level.
In the case of Mazatlán, the percentage of employment decreased from 60.79 to 59.84 percent, with a decrease also in average stay from 2.7 to 2.1, according to federal Sectur figures.
Although, Mazatlán remains in the first places as a beach center in Mexico in terms of tourist arrivals, occupying the fourth place with 2 million 454 thousand 790 visits per year, it continues to lose seats in terms of available rooms and night tourists, both concepts in the sixth place.
And this fate is increasingly moving away from the first places as average occupation and average stay, going to the 11th and 15th place, respectively.
Not even the completion of the Tianguis with its visitors in 2018 was able to maintain the hotel occupancy in percentage similar to that of the previous year.
IN THE GREAT LEAGUES?
On April 1, during a panel at the “Real Estate Business Summit Mazatlan 2019” Congress, which stands as the real estate summit with high profile attendees and the ideal place to conduct networking, the State Tourism Secretary, Óscar Pérez Barros, spoke of the good results of the state strategy of tourism promotion, but without giving figures, highlighting the Tourism Tianguis of Mazatlan as the best in history.
“We are doing well, and we still have to do great things,” reads a bulletin published that same day by the Social Communication area of the state government, with the title: “In tourism, Sinaloa is already in the big leagues: Óscar Pérez Barros “.
In the closing of the “sexennium of change”, the ex-governor Mario López Valdez went on to say that Sinaloa lived the best years of tourism in his government, highlighting the visit of one million 800 thousand people a year, after the opening of the Mazatlan- Durango links it with the Northern Economic Corridor and opens a market of 12 million potential tourists.
Now, the flag flagged by the state government of Quirino Ordaz Coppel is the Tianguis Turístico Mazatlán 2018, with the same projections, of entering the big leagues in tourism; however, the statistics still do not show that ‘boom’ that everyone talks about.
COMPARATIVE INDICATORS 2017-2018
SINALOA 2017 2018
Rooms available 14,980 13,896
Tourists arrivals 3’549,021 3’682,280
Night tourists 8’140,015 6’683,183
Occupancy percentage 55.71 56.05
Average stay 2.3 1.8
MAZATLAN 2017 2018
Rooms available 9,974 9,119
Arrivals of tourists 2’462,870 2’454,790
Night tourists 6’745,808 5’177,014
Occupation percentage 60.79 59.84
Average stay 2.7 2.1
BEACH CENTERS IN MEXICO 2018
Rooms available daily average:
1. Cancun 34,999
2. Acapulco 19,044
3. Puerto Vallarta 12,847
4. Playa del Carmen 10,597
5. Nuevo Vallarta 9,912
6. Mazatlan 9,119
Arrival of tourists:
1. Cancun 9,840,479
2. Acapulco 6’552,402
3. Veracruz-Boca del Río 2’751,380
4. Mazatlan 2’454,790
Night tourists:
1. Cancun 28’071,970
2. Acapulco 8’555,428
3. Puerto Vallarta 7’241,420
4. Nuevo Vallarta 6’939,881
5. Playa del Carmen 5’821,664
6. Mazatlan 5’177,014
Percentage of occupation:
1. Playacar 85.96
2. Akumal 84.36
3. Nuevo Vallarta 77.71
4. Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo 75.74
5. Cancun 74.62
6. Playa del Carmen 73.1
7. Puerto Vallarta 71.87
8. Loreto 63.85
9. Huatulco Bay 61.78
10. Isla Mujeres 60.52
11. Mazatlan 59.84
Average stay:
1. Akumal 7.1
2. Playacar 6.2
3. Nuevo Vallarta 5.2
4. Cabo San Lucas 5.0
5. Playa del Carmen 5.6
6. San José del Cabo 4.2
7.- Los Cabos Corridor Zone 3.9
8. Huatulco Bay 3.5
9. Puerto Vallarta 3.4
10. Cancun 2.9
11. Cozumel 2.8
12. Iztapa-Zihuatanejo 2.8
13. Manzanillo 2.7
14. Loreto 2.4
15. Mazatlan 2.1
SOURCE: El Sol de Mazatlan, Unit of Statistics and Analysis of the CODESIN, with information of federal Sectur.
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