translated from Spanish: Government to hold long weekends to revive tourism

The Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco, announced during the evening conference on COVID-19, that long weekends will not be cancelled, as the first representative, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had put forward before the pandemic.
“Today afternoon I spoke to the president and he authorized me to announce that to detonate domestic tourism in the country, which is essential, they will stay on long weekends,” Torruco announced.
In the face of the health crisis over COVID’s pandemic, the tourism sector, which contributed 8.7% of GDP, has suffered a serious setback.
In 2019, the country received 45 million 24 thousand international tourists, which left an spill of 24 billion dollars. Although the largest spill was domestic tourism, with more than $124 billion in consumption and 85% hotel occupancy. Both tourism and foreign exchange saw growth of 9%.
The total tourist consumption was 173 thousand 509 million pesos, 83% of that was national tourism and 17% international, Torruco reported.
But, as a result of the contingency, he noted, the in arrival of international tourists decreased 34.4% in the first quarter of 2020, and there was 45.6% less economic spillage. “By the second half of this year those figures will be more delicate,” the secretary said.
Tourism activity is not only essential, he emphasized, but a priority, “that is why we must reactivate it to avoid further affectation in jobs, but we will do so respecting the rigor of the traffic lights that the Ministry of Health has put”.
The official stated that protocols are already in place for this and that in the morning he and the undersecretary of health, Hugo López-Gatell, met with the governors and their tourist secretaries of the ten states that record 50.5% of total gross tourism to agree among all the document on which the revival is based.
As one of the good news of the new normal in tourism, Torruco highlighted the return of long weekends.
The permanence of these is essential, he said, as they increase the hotel occupancy by 7 or 8 points, there are 2 million more tourists in hotels and 5 million additional tourists traveling throughout the country, especially in the 121 magical villages, which leaves an spill of 38 billion pesos.
With the return of the long weekends it is intended to give a new impetus to the 25 sectors that make up the tourism industry, ranging from spas to large hotel chains.
What we do in Animal Político requires professional journalists, teamwork, dialogue with readers and something very important: independence. You can help us keep going. Be part of the team.
Subscribe to Animal Político, receive benefits and support free journalism #YoSoyAnimal.

Original source in Spanish