The Mexican Pacific resort town of Acapulco has a better summer season in 2017 compare to last year. Guerrero authorities report positive numbers for visitors, hotel occupancy and economic impact with the official close of the summer.
Acapulco welcomed 690 thousand visitors with hotel occupancy averaging 67 percent and reaching peaks of up to 93 percent. The figures represent an increase of seven percent in comparison to the same period last year.
“We are very pleased with the successful summer season we had in Acapulco,” said Pedro Haces, president of the Acapulco Destination Marketing Office. “The occupancy rate in Acapulco continues to grow, and the strong cooperation between the private and government sectors, combined with the striking natural beauty of the destination and its legendary service is the perfect recipe for a brilliant comeback.”
Additionally, the neighboring towns of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo and Taxco also reported a successful season. Both destinations received a total of 417 thousand tourists with a combined average hotel occupancy of 61 percent with a peak period of 91 percent.
“For several years, we have been actively working on the development of Guerrero’s tourism, which is growing dramatically every year,” said Ernesto Rodriguez Escalona, Secretary of Tourism for the state of Guerrero. “From now through December we have lined up an agenda of promotional activities comprising 29 conferences, 41 caravans, 158 national and international fairs and 20 events of high impact.”
To further increase the quality of services provided to tourists this past season, Acapulco police deployed 1,740 policemen, 250 police vehicles, two helicopters, and for the first time, drones that monitored the main beaches to enhance tourists’ safety. Drones have proved very effective in other tourist destinations all over the world, supporting lifeguard activities, detecting tide changes, locating children separated from their parents and overall deterring petty crime.
As part of its plans to update tourism infrastructure, Acapulco will debut a new state-of-the-art airport terminal in early 2018 that will ease passenger flow and increase arrivals capacity. The city has also received a billion-dollar investment from Grupo Autofin, a private conglomerate that recently launched XTASEA the world’s largest over-the-ocean zipline, and is currently renovating some of the most iconic hotels in the city, as well as developing a new Medical Center, a tennis stadium and an eco-amusement park. The completion dates for these projects are all between 2017 and 2022.
The city has also become the venue of major world-class events. Just last month it hosted the Fifth edition of the Powerade Surf Open, in March it held the Tianguis Turistico, Mexico’s most important travel show, and earlier in the year it welcomed the best tennis players in the world for the ATP Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
For more information on Acapulco, visit www.visitacapulco.travel
