The hotel sector of Cancún suffers an economic blow after the collapse of Brazilian tourism, due to the cancellation of electronic visas, resulting in losses of 400 million dollars in 2023.
The hotel sector of Cancún reports millionaire losses after the collapse of Brazilian tourism that was experienced during 2023 due to the withdrawal of electronic visas for this market.
“I estimate conservatively that about 400 million dollars of Brazilian tourism have been lost, which not only comes to consume hotels, we are talking about excursions, restaurants, activities, parks, souvenirs, it is a tourism that spends a lot and tends to move a lot once in the destination”, said Jesús Almaguer, president of the hoteliers of Cancún, Puerto Morelos, and Isla Mujeres who added that despite everything there is no date for the federal government to address this problem
The hotel leader explained that he is aware of the efforts that the state government has made to speed up the restoration of electronic visas, however, after several months of announcing that there was already an agreement between Brazil and Mexico to address this issue, there has been no progress.
The Riviera Maya and the challenges of air connectivity
In a separate interview, Toni Chaves, president of the hoteliers of the Riviera Maya commented that the Brazilian market continues to demand vacation packages to the Mexican Caribbean, but due to the cancellation of direct flights from last year, these travelers have to arrive in Cancún with connecting flights in Panama or the United States.
This need to triangulate the trips complicates their arrival, because in fact, although they continue to visit the Mexican Caribbean, their number is much lower than previous years.
“They like the Mexican Caribbean and we are receiving Brazilians but via Panama or Miami, they are not direct flights and this makes it difficult for them. The progress is that we have taken the pulse of the market and we know that they maintain interest and now it remains for the authorities to speed up the process of the electronic visa, but they have not told us when”, added the hotel leader.
According to the statistics of the Unit of Migration Policy of the Mexican government during 2023 Cancún reported a collapse of 41.7% in arrival of Brazilian tourism, after the cancellation of all flights from that country after the elimination of the aforementioned electronic visa.
In round numbers, during the last year, a total of 81,934 travelers visited Cancún via direct from Brazil, compared to 140,663 that were registered in 2022, that is, 58,729 less between one year and another.
Despite this, there is no date for this measure to be implemented by the Mexican foreign ministry, according to the hotelier.
Waiting for the restoration of the electronic visa
It should be remembered that the notice for the restoration of the electronic visa was made in July 2023, when the governments of Brazil and Mexico reported that they would adopt “in the coming months” and reciprocally a system of electronic visas to “facilitate” the mobility of citizens traveling between both countries.
“The joint adoption of electronic visas will allow Brazilian and Mexican citizens to apply, quickly, safely and without the need to travel to consulates, for a visit visa for tourism and business purposes in both countries”, the Mexican foreign ministry reported in a statement, however, that has not happened.
Other markets in decline
Along with Brazil, the other market on the decline in Cancún is Colombia, as in 2022 a total of 417,129 citizens of that country were captured in the Mexican Caribbean, while for 2023 the figure dropped to 336,016, that is, a fall of 19.4 percent.
Source: El Economista
