From Today's AJC- Storm-ravaged Cancun wants tourists to return

[Jimmy-James]

Storm-ravaged Cancun wants tourists to return

TERESA BORDEN
9 November 2005
The Atlanta Journal - Constitution

Billions of dollars in damage from Hurricane Wilma notwithstanding, Cancun, Mexico, is open for business and pleasure.

Moreover, it's gearing up for a relaunch in just over a month, as the peak tourist season begins, that will reintroduce U.S. and European fun-seekers to a brand-new city, says Artemio Santos, general manager of Cancun's convention and visitors' bureau.

Santos was in Atlanta to promote the city's rebuilding efforts. The rest of his staff has fanned out to do the same across the United States.

"We're not saying that we're closed, because we're not," Santos said. "We are in a rebuilding process that is very fast, and we are going to have a new Cancun."

They have a mammoth task ahead of them.

In mid-October, Hurricane Wilma, one of the last major storms of a devastating 2005 hurricane season, parked for 2 1/2 days over the resort city, dumping hours of rain, blowing tons of Cancun's famed powder-white sand from beaches and damaging up to 90 percent of its hotel rooms, according to local officials. Down the coast, on the developing Maya Riviera resort area, about 60 percent of the hotel rooms were damaged.

Of about 52,000 hotel rooms in the two resort areas, only about 20,000 are usable, and only about 5,000 in Cancun.

Santos put the overall economic damage at about $3 billion. That's not including $15 million a day in lost income as tourists stay away.

"Wilma I believe was worse than Gilbert," Santos said, referring to the 1988 hurricane that caused $429 million in damage to the resort area. "It has been a very destructive year."

Thousands of tourists who were evacuated to crowded, undersupplied shelters complained that tour companies and local officials had been slow to inform them about Hurricane Wilma, and many vowed never to return.

Officials are right to worry about repeat tourism from the United States. Annual statistics show that the vast majority of visitors to Cancun are American, and that figure has been growing yearly. In 2004, 1.75 million visitors to Cancun were from the United States. The second-largest number, just under 300,000, were from Europe.

Santos says that has to change. He sees Cancun as a gateway to the Americas for Europeans, and he believes the largest growth market for the resort will come from Europe in future years. He even envisions package deals that will take tourists on circuits including Havana, Cancun and Miami, the same way American tourists now go on package tours to several European cities.

But for that to happen, much money remains to be spent. Mexican President Vicente Fox has pledged "whatever it takes" to rebuild the resort that, by itself, accounts for 33 percent of yearly revenue in an industry that is the third-largest income source for Mexico, behind oil and migrant remittances.

Santos said the Mexican government has contributed $20 million to beach restoration; $10 million to rebuild infrastructure along Kukulkan Boulevard, Cancun's hotel row; a $550 million credit line through the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank for hotel rebuilding; a $310 million credit line for small-business rebuilding and refinancing; and retraining money for hospitality workers.

In addition, a fund for hurricane-prone cities has been made available for a more long-term project: burying power lines and hurricane-proofing buildings along Kukulkan Boulevard.

"We have to change our norms for construction, for design," Santos said. "If I'm going to rebuild, I'm going to do it a different way, a way that's more adequate to the region."

Fox has set a Dec. 15 deadline to essentially relaunch Cancun, and that means that 80 percent of the hotel rooms have to be available, an increase of 20,000 rooms over now. In addition, trees have to be replanted and public areas restored.

That's a tall order, but Santos says he's optimistic. Nearly 20 days since the storm struck, energy grids are 93 percent restored in Cancun and on Cozumel Island, 98 percent restored in Playa del Carmen on the Maya Riviera, and 90 percent restored in Isla Mujeres.

"Almost the entire affected area is energized," he said, even though the storm downed 10,000 light posts and 200 energy towers.

And despite the destruction, none of the long-term development projects for Cancun, including golf courses and a Formula One racetrack, was canceled.

Santos said he grew so used to seeing destruction after the hurricane that he was shocked when he walked into the city's airport Monday, on his way to Atlanta, and saw everything in its place.

"I perceived nothing," Santos said. "No evidence of damage."

[UGAplaya]

Funny how so many people here in Georgia have no idea where Playa Del Carmen is. All they think about is Cancun. OK by me I guess.

[KevKaos]

In addition to the posting above, I got this blurb from my electronic copy of Travel Weekly Newsletter - Mexico edition;

CANCUN is on the fast track to recovery following the devastation cause by Hurricane Wilma last month, officials from the Mexican tourist destination told reporters last week. Mexican President Vicente Fox has pledged that 80% of the region's resorts will be operational by Dec. 15, despite the estimated $2.6 billion in damage left behind by the storm. By Nov. 4, 5,200 of the affected region's hotel rooms were scheduled to be available, and approximately 16,000 rooms, or about 60% of Cancun's inventory, operational by Dec. 15, officials said last week. Cancun now has a total of 27,000 hotel rooms. Those properties with more extensive damage will take longer to reopen. Restoring beaches stripped of their white sand will be a major undertaking unto itself. Hotel owners plan to use machines that suck up sand in the ocean and spray it on the beach. The project is expected to cost $30 million and take up to three months.