The port of Acapulco is preparing for a second December with difficulties in tourism after the impact more than a year ago of Otis and three months ago of John, two of the most devastating hurricanes in the recent history of the country, where the damage has not yet been reported. are completely repaired.
Without knowing if there will be more reconstruction programs after John, which left almost 30 dead throughout the country after hitting on September 23, workers on the beaches of Puerto Marqués, Revolcadero and the Malecón fear that, for the second time, the December holidays will be in danger. , which are usually the best of the year.
The authorities estimate that, by the end of 2024, the port will have an offer of 14,000 tourist rooms, less than the more than 20,000 that existed before Hurricane Otis, which left almost 70 dead on October 25, 2023, when it broke the record. intensification for a cyclone in Mexico.
The three tourist areas mentioned remain destroyed, and in the case of Puerto Marqués alone, 16 restaurants must be demolished, although some of them have already been protected so that the authorities do not do so.
In Revolcadero, access to the beach is in ruins, while more than 200 commercial premises and 18 restaurants cannot work because there is no access to the sand strip and tourists are leaving the place.
Restaurateur Víctor Manuel Díaz assured EFE that 10 families of workers, such as waiters, cooks and kitchen assistants, depend on his business, while among all the beach vendors, street vendors, aquatic services and others, there are more than 1,000 people. those who live off the beach.
Díaz stated that the place “is alone because people are losing hope, it looks like a ghost town, everything is closed and there is no money.
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“This is desperate, other people have even looked for work elsewhere, many are emigrating to the United States and there is no point in our president not paying attention to us, all the people are leaving, it is the solution that exists right now, because here we don’t We won’t even see when,” he lamented.
A tourism still under reconstruction
Hurricanes Otis and John, which surprised by hitting with a force that was not predicted, have impacted the tourist economy of Acapulco, where almost nine out of ten inhabitants receive some income from tourism, according to the municipal government.
The president of the Revolcadero beach restaurateurs, Ofelia Niño Pineda, told EFE that the economic situation is critical, and that the support from the census carried out by the Government has already run out, so now they are only looking to work.
“Our situation is critical, our future right now we don’t know what it will be like because we have no way to work, we want and we have a beach, but what we don’t have is the pace,” he said.
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The Secretary of Tourism of Guerrero, Simón Quiñones Orozco, told the media that there is already a rehabilitation program for the tourist area of the port, which President Sheinbaum will present in January, so they are now talking with beach workers and restaurateurs.
“It is a comprehensive plan, we need to intervene several municipal, state and federal government agencies to make an entire reconstruction plan, the approach they initially gave us was to be able to relocate them temporarily so that they can offer their products or meals for this season,” he explained.
With information from EFE
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