The Los Cabos Hotel Association, made up of 95 members and representing approximately 19,500 rooms today, maintains an average occupancy rate of over 70%, despite having the highest rates in the entire country. Reportur.mx interviewed its president, Mauricio Salicrup, who highlighted that this destination has recovered from the low demand registered in September, which he attributes to several factors, including the presidential elections held in the United States.
MAURICIO SALICRUP: The Association has a total of 95 members, of which six are in the municipality of La Paz, so there would be 89 members actually in the municipality of Los Cabos. This represents approximately 19,500 rooms today, but we know that the inventory managed by the Ministry of Tourism is 23,200 rooms for the municipality of Los Cabos.
A.: How many hotel openings are planned for the next 12 months?
M.S.: We have information from three pre-openings; we trust that this can be fulfilled.
A.: How has 2024 been for the Association’s hotels in terms of average occupancy and main issuing markets?
M.S.: We continue to manage an average occupancy of 71%, which if we look at previous years, is the average that the destination generally manages. This 2024 was a year in which we recovered the situation of the destination’s seasonality; I mean, we had a summer that was more acute in terms of the level of demand. This probably happens due to the rearrangement of the seasonality of American tourism trips and we must not lose sight of what could have been influenced by the issue of the elections in the United States, as well as the issue of the planes that are being grounded by different airlines. But in the month of October, an important fact is that the only destination that is recovering is Los Cabos with 2.8%, which is obviously very little, but at least we are no longer in negative numbers compared to the previous year.
A.: Obviously, this last month of December means a strong boost for the occupancy rate, right?
M.S.: We definitely had an October that, as I already mentioned, the numbers show that we had an increase in passengers in the destination. November closed very well; practically all hotels report a very encouraging closing to recover numbers, and December is being sensational. This confirms our thesis that the elections in the United States had something to do with the lack of demand, because we began to have a much higher pace for the entire destination.
A.: As for the main issuing markets?
M.S.: Definitely the United States is our main issuing market and obviously the connectivity that has been achieved from the United States to the destination of Los Cabos with direct flights from important Hubs has motivated that the fall in American clients is not as sharp as it was in the Mexican Caribbean; also in Canada we are increasing with different airlines, the Canadian market is recovering; and in third place would be domestic tourism, national tourism; We see Colombia in fourth place. Obviously, it is a great effort that Colombians make to come to Los Cabos because we do not have any direct connectivity, it has to be through Mexico City or Cancun.
A.: I hope that the Colombian market does not face the problems that it sometimes has in Cancun and Mexico City, with deportations, refusals of admission, mistreatment.
M.S.: The effort to create a link with Colombia, particularly by the Los Cabos Tourism Trust, has been ongoing for several years and so far we have not received that complaint. We know what happens in Cancun and Mexico City, but for now here in Los Cabos we do not have that phenomenon, but I insist that we do not have any direct flights, they arrive to us without having to go through immigration. We have also discovered that there are Colombians who arrive directly to Los Angeles or San Diego and from there take a flight to Los Cabos. This does not create a migration problem for them because, although they are Colombian, they are arriving on a flight from the United States.
A: What do you consider to be the main achievements of your administration as president of the hotel association and how long will your term last?
M.S.: I can tell you that among the main achievements that have been obtained under this administration is the fact that the destination continues to work with that unity that is not perceived in other destinations in the Mexican Republic. In terms of promotion, we had the disappearance of the Mexican Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) which unfortunately created a gap, a void, and we as a hotel association took on the task of promoting and creating a private tourism promotion trust that has been in operation since the CPTM was closed, and we now have practically 80 active members; it is a trust that does not duplicate functions, but rather does work that FITURCA cannot do. Another obstacle we had was the pandemic, we had to coordinate teamwork to close the destination and then to reopen it in such good conditions that even the federal government made public recognition of many of the strategies that were made for the reopening of the destination, of the protocols that were implemented. And then, maintaining a healthy Los Cabos tourism trust with resources, avoiding at all costs that it becomes contaminated as has happened in other places in the country, where resources for tourism promotion are used for other purposes and are no longer for promotion. My term ends on December 31 of this year, after having been re-elected three times, and so that they don’t write a book about Mauricio Salicrup’s Porfiriato in Los Cabos, I made the decision – despite the request that I be re-elected – to leave the way open for another board of directors to be formed, which has already been voted on, has already been elected. (“Los Cabos launched two luxury brands and will open three more.”).
A.: Lastly, could you tell us a little about the Solmar Group to which you belong: the results this year and expansion plans.
M.S.: We currently manage an inventory of 848 keys, all in the Los Cabos destination. Our main distribution channels are: 41% is commercially managed as a European-style hotel and 59% is marketed for our vacation club, which is precisely, as its name indicates, buying a franchise for a certain number of years to use your unit for one week a year. Regarding expansion plans, in 2025 we will start again with what was left pending from the Pacific Dunes hotel, where we will have a total of 600 hotel keys, and in the case of Playa Grande, which has an inventory of 358 keys, we will begin in April 2025 the remodeling of approximately 50 rooms.
Source: reportur
