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Quintana Roo Remains Restriction Free For the Second Week In A Row
Cancun and Quintana Roo will remain in the green zone on Mexico’s epidemiological traffic light system for another week. The announcement was made on Thursday night by state Governor Carlos Joaquin.
Although the news was expected, the tourist industry as a whole will be happy to have confirmation that they can run at full capacity for at least a week longer.
Joaquin announced the news in his typical fashion and continued with the same message of pushing forward with the economic recovery and ensuring as many of the jobs lost in the pandemic were returned to the region.
He also spoke of continuing to build confidence in potential tourists but keeping on top of our basic sanitary behaviors to ensure there was no relapse into worse rates.
He said, “This allows us to continue with the economic recovery processes in a better way, with greater capacity, with businesses that had not been able to open, now open, with more time for the services offered in these commercial establishments, the possibility of generating more confidence in our visitors and tourists, which gives us great pleasure that this is the case.”
Mexico has gauged each state’s situation throughout the pandemic based on the aforementioned traffic light system. With four colors ranging from red to green, representing high infection rates and low infection rates respectively. Each level comes with its own restrictions that impact economic activity as well as social rules.
Cancun had spent the last two months of 2021 comfortably in the green zone and was thriving with the associated freedom it provided. But a massively successful winter period left a quick-spreading Omicron surge in its wake, pulling its zone to yellow and even as low as orange.
Hotels, restaurants, and bars were all forced to function at significantly reduced capacities when under yellow and orange, although some hotels were given special dispensation to go above and beyond the agreed limits.
But last week, after the infection rate and hospitalization rate took a huge downturn, the restrictions were lifted and the state moved into the green zone. Covid rates have continued to decrease along with all the other metrics used to gauge the effects of the pandemic, and so Governor Joaquin made the call to continue at the current level.
The timing couldn’t be more important for Cancun and the other major hotspots. Spring break is almost here, meaning a strong surge in arrivals is expected over the course of the next month. Although not as many young spring breakers are using Cancun to party anymore, there are still expected to be around 20,000 of them hitting the beach.
Following spring break will be the easter holidays when thousands, if not millions, will be using their time off to get away from some of the colder climes in the north. Towns like Playa del Carmen are already seeing more than 80% of their capacity booked, and could be approaching 100% by the time Easter rolls around.
The region faces a number of obstacles in its attempt to remain one of the world’s most sought-after destinations. The rising instances of organized crime-related violence have thrown some unfortunate light onto the state from all across the world. Although cases of tourists being involved are extremely low the reputation of Cancun and other towns as safe destinations are frequently called into question when these problems arise.
It’s hoped that early action will have averted some of the sargassum-related problems. Both the navy and the local hotels have already begun preventative measures to keep the beaches free of unpleasant seaweed.
Any travelers hoping to head to Cancun soon should continue to keep on top of any potential changes in restrictions, both in Mexico and in their home country.
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