Los Cabos coronavirus: reactivating tourism with new vitality

As of today, the total of Los Cabos coronavirus cases reaches 3,657 confirmed cases and 203 deaths. There are 173 active ongoing Covid-19 cases and 2,906 patients recovered.

Since June to date, Los Cabos has recovered 38 percent of the international market. Los Cabos, unlike other destinations, is distinguished by being a luxury destination and with the highest rate per night in the country, this undoubtedly contributes even more to the recovery trend is increasingly high, since international visitors who have traveled in these months generate greater economic spillover, as 18 percent receive more than 500 thousand dollars annually.

The recovery that Los Cabos is experiencing is being gradual. At the moment the capacity allowed in the stores and restaurants is 40%. So far only 70% of the businesses have been opened, so the businessmen believe that it will be until next year when they will increase their sales again.

Flights

Although Canada still maintains a closed border for foreigners wishing to enter their nation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country already allows air travel to other countries by its citizens. Thus, after 7 months of absence, flights from Canada have begun to arrive at Los Cabos International Airport.

For the time being, only the Canadian airline Westjet has returned to Los Cabos with a flight from Calgary, which resumed its direct route with the tourist destination last Saturday, October 10, and will maintain a weekly flight for the time being.

Little by little, the Los Cabos airport has begun to receive more and more flights, anticipating that by this Monday we will have the arrival of around 40 flights, between nationals and foreigners, the foreigners of this day all coming from the United States (USA).

With the return of the Canadian flights, the only thing left to do is to wait for the return of the direct route between London and Los Cabos, by TUI airline. However, unlike the Canadian airlines, which informed that they would return in the fall, the English airline has not informed when it will resume its flights to the tourist destination.

Cruise ships

The tourist community of the municipality of Los Cabos is looking forward to the reactivation of the cruise ships that arrive at the port of Cabo San Lucas (CSL). With losses in the millions and zero income, tourist service providers that attend to the thousands of sailors that arrive at the destination are "adrift", with no other option but to look for different employment alternatives.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, globally, shipping companies have been working on the "new normal" for shipping. In an interview with Diario El Independiente, José Arturo Musi, president of the Mexican Cruise Association and representative of some of the most important cruise companies in the world, said that the expectation of reactivating the industry moved to the month of November, without this representing an arrival to Mexican shores. There is no official date for a cruise on the Mexican Pacific for the rest of the year 2020.

"They had voluntarily agreed in late October to make the restart and there have already been changes in the dates. We now believe that November is the expected restart date. Some cruises have already started in Europe, in the United States. The epidemiological authorities decide when the cruises can leave and have not given the green light [...] There is no date. In conjunction with authorities in the United States and other countries where they make port, only in Europe have left them. On some routes there have been good results, on others less so. [...] We are still waiting, the protocols are being analyzed. In the ships the protocols are already very clear," said the businessman.

Meanwhile, Mexican ports continue to train and adapt what is necessary to be safe destinations free of risk of COVID-19 infection.

"We had a meeting with all the Pacific ports that receive cruise ships, with the Coordination of Ports, with the Secretary of the Navy; we discussed being ready for the start. We had a meeting with all the ports in the Pacific that receive cruise ships, with the Coordination of Ports and the Secretary of the Navy; we discussed being prepared for the start. For now, CSL's port is still waiting to receive cruise ships again in the short term.

It is the weekends that have the greatest influx of visitors, with Sunday being the most critical day. During the past Sundays between 9 and 11 thousand visitors have been registered in the 11 beaches that the destination keeps open derived from the COVID-19 traffic light. When the maximum number of people allowed per beach is exceeded, the figure varies from one beach to another but is around a thousand people, the beach is closed and no more people are allowed to enter.

The schedule of the beaches is from 10 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon, but according to the elements of Public Security and ZOFEMAT posted on the beaches reported that, although the schedule established to stay on them is until 6 in the afternoon, they begin to remove them from 5 so that the departure is in order.

In response to the alert issued by the U.S. government about traveling to Mexico due to the high numbers of coronavirus infections. The Secretary of Tourism mentioned that it is working with business partners to continue promoting Los Cabos as a safe place. The different security processes and protocols have helped tourists feel safe and continue to arrive in Los Cabos.

The opening of the beaches of Los Cabos has a schedule of stay from 10:00 in the morning to 18:00 in the afternoon, every day. The same applies to maritime service providers, as there are tourists who like to embark on a great nautical adventure in recreational boats that usually take groups of visitors to beaches like El Chileno and Santa María, mainly to have a wide variety of attractions.

In 2019, 72% of the 2.6 million tourists that Los Cabos attracted were of foreign origin, of which 40% came from California, United States, a key market that is now in dispute with other destinations such as Hawaii.

Although California is the most important market - where even Los Cabos opened its first representative office outside the country in 2019 - tourists from other U.S. cities like Seattle, Washington, and some border states like Texas and Arizona are keen to spend their holidays in the Sea of Cortez.

About 40% of the tourists the region receives come from California, a market that will have to fight with destinations like Hawaii. Locally, the competition is with Puerto Vallarta and Cancun.

By Mexicanist