Mexico: increase in the number of Covid cases around the resort town of Cancún

Audio 01:19

View of Tulum Archaeological Park, 130 km south of Cancun, Mexico, December 29, 2020. AFP - RODRIGO ARANGUA

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

In Mexico, the Covid-19 records more than twenty consecutive weeks of decline.

But one region is moving against the grain of the rest of the country: it is the Riviera Maya, in the south-east of the country, with a particular concentration of the number of cases around the seaside resort of Cancún.

Some 200 new cases are detected on average every day in this region.

Mexico does not impose any filter on tourists, no test to be presented when entering the country.

The goal is to preserve the industry at all costs.

Pointed out, tourism professionals, and in particular the hotel sector, call for the individual responsibility of visitors.

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With our correspondent in Mexico,

Emmanuelle Steels

Images of hordes of maskless tourists thronging bars in Cancun and Playa del Carmen have been reflected for several weeks in a steady rise in the number of Covid cases.

Could the Riviera Maya be the gateway to a third wave in Mexico?

Toni Cháves, head of hoteliers in the region, denies accusations of laxity: “

 The hotel sector has shown a total commitment against the pandemic.

The hotels apply very strict sanitary measures and the customers respect them.

 "

In Tulum, a resort town south of Cancun, unbridled parties have spawned massive contagions.

For David Ortiz Mena, president of the Tulum Hotel Association, all the efforts made are counterbalanced by tourists seeking release.

“ 

Tulum is associated with these excesses and it's dismal,

” he says.

Many people, especially those who are already vaccinated, want to break free from the restrictions, and so to some extent this image of Tulum appeals to them.

But in my opinion, it's damaging for us… It gives us a bad reputation in terms of health precautions

.

"

At the end of the month, a mass vaccination center will be opened in Cancún for all employees of the tourism sector.

A measure they have been demanding for several months already.

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To read also: 

Covid-19: faced with the good figures, Mexico City lifts certain restrictions

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• Mexico

• Tourism

• Coronavirus

• Vaccines