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The number of tourists that visit Cancun every year has steadily been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic started to wind down.
As with other businesses all around the world, though, Cancun hotels are having trouble keeping up with skyrocketing demand due to staff shortages.
This has been an ongoing problem in restaurants, bars, hotels, and other businesses since the end of the pandemic.
Where The Shortages Exist
At a recent job fair held by the Cancun and Puerto Morelos Hotel Association 20 hotels were looking to fill approximately 600 vacancies.
The shortage is particularly high for the positions of restaurant chefs and stewards.
According to one recruiter, this is because “It is difficult to hire people who are cooks or cooks assistants, because there are not many with experience, and… what they are looking for is rapid growth, and if you don’t give [it to] them, then they just leave.”
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How Hotels Are Addressing The Problem
In addition to holding job fairs, hotel position recruiters are employing a number of other methods to recruit new staff as well.
One recruiter stated that “Not only are we recruiting people via the Internet and social networks, but now we are taking to the streets to look for our staff.”
According to that recruiter, they even have people in shopping centers, supermarkets, and parks trying to bring on more workers.
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Cancun Tourism During The Pandemic
Even during the pandemic, once everything started opening back up in June of 2020, Cancun tourism immediately began to bounce back.
During the pandemic, Cancun received nearly 3 million visitors, thanks to the more lax restrictions and continuing connectivity.
A total of 2.7 million of those visitors were American travelers.
And in the months following the reopening, more than 6 million tourists visited the Mexican Caribbean vacation destination.
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Cancun Tourism Since The Pandemic
Following the pandemic, starting in 2021, tourism numbers began to skyrocket and have continued to rise since.
In fact, for that year, more tourists visited Cancun than anywhere else in the world other than Dubai, making it the second most visited city in the world.
This is a huge jump from the place it held in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time Cancun was not even among the top 20 most visited destinations.
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Resorts In Cancun
Part of the reason for the huge success of tourism in Cancun is the large offering of accommodations available for the increasing demand.
There are more than 100 hotels and resorts throughout the city, with options both in the downtown area and in the famous Cancun Hotel Zone, as well as in more secluded developments on the outskirts of the city.
Many of these are huge, sprawling all-inclusive resorts that require a large number of staff to operate.
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The Future Of Cancun Tourism
Last year Cancun broke numerous tourism records, hosting more than 30 million tourists during the year.
This is around 10 million more visitors than the tourist destination had in 2021, the first full year following the end of the pandemic.
In 2022, Cancun International Airport became the second busiest airport in the world, with well over 500 flights operating from the airport on many days throughout the year, and that trend has continued into this year.
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Hosting Millions Of Tourists
Currently, there is a 9 percent staff deficit in Cancun hotels, making it difficult to properly host the millions of tourists that will visit this year.
Still, the hospitality in Cancun’s luxury all-inclusive resorts continues to be top-notch.
And it will likely get even better as the staffing shortages decline due to the efforts of hotel and tourism industry officials.
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