Despite the disappointing forecasts for the hotel sector as a result of the pandemic, the beginning of 2021 has shown signs of recovery greater than those expected for this industry. However, this improvement has been more pronounced in the vacation sector and unlike, the city hotel segment faces its own behavior and challenges. In this regard, the KPMG firm has identified the following trends.

Occupations in beach hotels observed constant increases, mainly helped by the holiday periods at the end of the year and Easter, as well as the advance in the vaccination scheme in the United States, which greatly benefited markets dependent on tourists from North America.

Likewise, KPMG details that the city hotel segment has remained with stable occupancies, but still below the levels of 2019. Even with accessible rates and a greater flow of travelers than that reported in 2020, some products and their investors have started to resent the effects of the new normal.

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According to the most current figures from the Ministry of Tourism, in Mexico the average number of occupations, including beach and city segments, is 53% below those registered before the pandemic (between 2003 and early 2020).

The combination of reduced rates, the holiday periods and the relative proximity of some destinations favor road tourism, helping the rapid recovery of large squares such as Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta.

On the other hand, the corridor of Los Cabos (San José del Cabo - Cabo San Lucas) and Cancun, places mostly dependent on North American tourism, benefited from atypical national tourism during the last quarter of 2020, mainly accentuated by the attractive offers of the segment from three to five stars and grand tourism.

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KPMG highlighted that at the beginning of the vaccination process, these places began an irregular period of mixed occupation (national and international), which some participants in the sector hope will last until the end of 2021, when it is possible that a gradual return to pre-pandemic occupancy trends: with a majority of North American guests, rates stabilized and hotel occupancy close to that observed in 2019.

This behavior has mainly benefited the three- and four-star segment, as well as grand tourism, leaving luxury hotels behind. The latter, contrary to their cheaper competitors, had to wait longer to receive foreign tourism and opted, for the most part, to maintain the rates.

On the other hand, according to information from DataTur, the average occupancy rate in city hotels, which before the pandemic was in a range close to 60%, does not exceed 30% at the end of the most recent quarter of this year.

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