Business owners and managers in Puerto Vallarta’s tourism sector reported a decline in visitor numbers and sales for businesses linked to the service industry. They say the situation began to worsen after the drug-related attacks of February 22nd and was not reversed during Holy Week, Easter, or the long weekends in May.
Figures from Datatur, the federal Ministry of Tourism’s tourism agency, reveal that in March, the average hotel occupancy rate in Puerto Vallarta was only 59.1 percent, 21.3 percentage points lower than in February and 22.1 percentage points lower than in March 2015.
Furthermore, from January to April, the airport handled 313,900 fewer passengers than during the same period last year, with only cruise ship arrivals showing marginal growth.
In an interview, Rolando Palomares Peña, general manager of Hotel Casa Nicole in the Romantic Zone, noted that small hotels are facing a significant decrease in occupancy and revenue, even after implementing rate reductions to attract visitors.
He explained that in March his hotel registered a 47 percent drop in occupancy compared to the same period in 2025, in addition to rate reductions and the impact of the peso-dollar exchange rate. He asserted that, when these factors were combined, the impact on revenue exceeded 60 percent.
“We lowered the rate by 12 percent compared to 2025, but on top of that, our exchange rate, compared to March 2025, is still 12 percent lower (the dollar against the peso),” Palomares explained.
“During Holy Week, our occupancy increased, but that’s because we significantly lowered our rates by up to 20 percent, and the exchange rate was low. So, the occupancy/rate ratio is flat, because I had to lower rates by 20 percent to increase our occupancy by 21 percent, and well, May is shaping up to be the same.”
He lamented that reservations for the next three months continue to fall short of expectations and warned that staff reductions could be coming to hotels, restaurants, and bars if the trend persists.
“We’re betting everything on Gay Pride,” Palomares noted, who believes the event represents one of the few hopes for recovery in May.
Separately, Nicolás Cornejo, owner of the Palmar restaurant, estimated a drop of nearly 60 percent in sales since the end of February, and stated that several tourism service providers are reporting similar impacts.
“Talking with colleagues in the service industry, several groups have met wanting to do something, groups independent of the government. We have no support whatsoever from the local government,” Cornejo pointed out.
“There are no events, no proposed activities in the parks. There’s nothing, yet they charged for permits and licenses, with an increase, for garbage collection even though the services are terrible,” she said.
Similarly, businesswoman Belén González, who owns businesses in the Romantic Zone, pointed out that the low foot traffic has also impacted retail and interior design and decoration projects linked to foreign residents.
Source: mural
