Although it was expected that in January 2021 the cruises to Cozumel and Mahahual would be reactivated, the Comprehensive Port Administration of Quintana Roo does not have any arrival scheduled throughout this first month of the year.
If it remains so, the paralysis of this industry would be extending for 10 and a half months, after all the itineraries of the cruise companies were canceled since the second half of March 2020.
At the beginning of November last year, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reported that operations from the United States would be suspended for all of 2020, due to sanitary restrictions due to Covid-19.
“As we work to implement a way forward, our members have agreed to extend our current suspension of operations in the United States until December 31. This action will provide additional time to align the extensive preparation of industry health protocols with implementation requirements under the CDC conditional framework. Covid-19 testing requirements of the initial phase and navigation for the protection of the crew, ”the CLIA statement reads.
Based on this information, Darío Flota Ocampo, director of the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Roo, anticipated at the end of 2020 that in January of this year cruise operations would be reactivated, however, some cruise companies such as Disney Cruise Line have extended the suspension until the 31st of this month due to the pandemic.
In other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean Cruises, the closest reservations that can be made are until March 6, leaving from Galveston, Texas.
In August of last year, the municipal government of Cozumel announced that the losses on the island totaled 3,000 million pesos, but they were then confident that after the elections in the United States, the activity would resume.
Cozumel is the third municipality in the country hardest hit by the crisis derived from the pandemic, with more than 12,000 direct jobs lost.
Source: eleconomista.com.mx