Earlier this week, state officials for Guerrero, Mexico—home to the resort destinations of Acapulco, Ixtapa Zihuatanejo and Taxco—reported positive numbers for visitors, hotel occupancy and economic impact as summertime wanes. This summer, Acapulco welcomed 690,000 tourists with hotel occupancy averaging 67 percent and reaching peaks of up to 93 percent, a seven percent increase in comparison to the same period last year.
The neighboring towns of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo and Taxco also reported a successful season, having welcomed an additional 417,000 tourists with a combined average hotel occupancy of 61 percent, with a peak period of 91 percent.
This is something of a renaissance for the Pacific-coast state; once the premier Mexican beach destination known for celebrity sightings, Guerrero has recently been plagued by violence, crime and cartel activity. Acpaulco, however, has recently taken steps to improve the quality of safety and services through the area, having deployed 1,740 policemen, 250 police vehicles, two helicopters, and for the first time, drones to monitor the main beaches. The drones in particular have proved very effective in Acapulco and other tourist destinations, supporting lifeguard action, detecting tide changes, locating lost children and deterring petty crime.
“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.”
The state also has plans to further update its tourism infrastructure. In early 2018, Acapulco will debut a new state-of-the-art airport terminal that aims to ease passenger flow and increase arrivals capacity. The city also received a billion-dollar investment from Grupo Autofin, a private conglomerate which recently launched XTASEA, the world’s largest over-the-ocean zipline. The group is currently renovating some of the city’s most iconic hotels, developing a new medical center, and building a tennis stadium and an eco-amusement park. The completion dates for these projects range from 2017 to 2022.
Just last month, Acapulco also hosted the fifth edition of the Powerade Surf Open, and earlier in the year the city hosted the ATP Abierto Mexicano Telcel, where elite tennis players came to compete.
For more information, visit visitacapulco.travel.
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