The complainants blame him for the work of the bike path, the arrival of the lily in the lake and the wave of insecurity that has been experienced in the municipality
(Chapala, Jalisco). – The lack of tourist promotion, the bad image of the lake with the arrival of the lily, in addition to a failed strategy in security on the part of the Municipal Government, combined with the construction works of the cycle path (which They impede the traffic that goes from the municipal capital of Chapala to Ajijic on the Chapala-Jocotepec road) by the State Government, tourism in “the corner of love” has decreased during 2019, but the declines in trade were accentuated in September where there was a decrease in sales of up to 35 percent.
For the owner of the Beer Garden restaurant and Secretary of the Jalisco State Business Council, Ricardo Reyes, the historical records of the establishment reported a decline since the beginning of the year.
“From September, sales fell, which here in the Beer Garden sales are falling by 35 percent and from there I have not been able to get up, we have October, November and what goes on December, because there we go in exactly the same ”explained the businessman.
But not only the Beer Garden but also the El Guayabo restaurant presented the same phenomenon, as its administrator, Jesús Vásquez, noted that since September his statistics also went down by a similar percentage.
Another of those affected was one of the restaurants located on the Island of Scorpions, as its owner, Tere Lomelí (who exemplifies using the Beer Garden restaurant) said: “While here they serve 14 tables in one day, we receive two or three tables a day. ”
The low sales were suffered by various merchants and service providers of the municipality of Chapala and the reduction of tourism and income has been attributed to various factors, one of them is the lack of services, that is, it does not have enough gardening, public cleaning or services in general on the Malecon de Chapala.
But not only that, insecurity takes over space and merchants set an example of the statue of the Virgin of Zapopan – placed in 2015 – which has now been vandalized until leaving the soldiers at her sides without hands, the angels without wings and with serious damage, despite the fact that barely 200 meters are security cameras and three blocks from the police command.
To this is added the lack of tourism promotion by the authorities, as merchants remember that while in the past administration Chapala was fashionable, now it seems not to be, although they recognize that there are various factors that have not allowed the promotion of tourism, among which is the lack of will on the part of the town hall.
Although also since the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, forced the disappearance of the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico (CPTM) – that was responsible for coordinating and designing tourism promotion strategies at national and international level- and has not been given course in regional delegations such as Chapala.
To this is added that whoever serves as a representative before FIDETUR in Chapala, is a person who is no longer a merchant, Alfonso Álvarez del Castillo, causing promotion efforts to not reach the region, complained.
The work on the cycleway – by the State government – is also denounced by the merchants, since it is a work that was not socialized, it is causing road chaos, parking obstruction, among other problems, for this reason, they ask for suspended during the holiday season to have improvements.
Given this situation, the Director of Tourism of Chapala, Gastón de la Torre, indicated that the decrease in tourism is not only due to the works and lack of services, but that this was also the effect of the violence that was experienced in Chapala, where the riverside municipality presented various murders.
Therefore, Gastón de la Torre acknowledged that there was a decrease in tourism between 30 and 40 percent; however, it is contradicted by presenting figures, which indicates that during 2019 there was 72 percent hotel occupancy in 2019, while in 2018 it was only 48 percent.
That confusion occurred because, in 2018, the municipality of Chapala had only 48 lodging sites registered, while with various works undertaken by Municipal Tourism they managed to register 260 spaces this year.
That is to say, having only 351 beds accounted for in 2018, in 2019 they had 1,800; Hence, a larger statistic is generated that does not mean an increase in tourism, but now has the spaces that they did not have before.
For his part, the mayor of Chapala, Moisés Alejandro Anaya Aguilar, in an interview with the newspaper El Informador said that “not all demands will be easy to comply with because in the case of the cycle path, they are works that belong to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Work, although what they can request is that during the holidays they help to take care of the image ”.
Source: semanariolaguna.com
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