Posted on 12/20/2005 2:55:51 PM PST by blam
Cancun struggles to recover from Wilma
By Claire Marshall
BBC News, Cancun
The sun is shining, and the sea is a beautiful deep azure. But nearly two months after Hurricane Wilma, the beach is out of bounds and Cancun's main strip looks like a building site.
The beach is now out of bounds
Cranes dot the horizon. Piles of rubble lie by the side of the road. There seem to be more construction workers than tourists here.
For the moment, the jewel of Mexico's tourism industry has definitely lost its sparkle. The president's pledge of having the resort fully up and running again by the start of the official holiday season appears to have been overly optimistic.
Ginny Main, from Weybridge in England, has been coming to Cancun for the last 13 years. Her holiday is very different this time.
She stands on the steps of her hotel, beside a rope put up by the management to stop people from getting down to the shoreline.
"My husband can't walk along the beach any longer, because all the rocks have been exposed and the sand has been dragged back in to the sea, and it's too dangerous," she says.
"So he really misses that, and he also misses the golf because there are two golf courses here but at the moment you can't play on them."
'Good spirit'
Cancun's world-famous nightlife has also been badly affected. Around 80% of the big bars and clubs are still closed.
Where crowds are normally jostling to get in, the doormen stand on empty steps, looking hopefully at the odd passer-by. Inside one place, a couple of girls sit on their own at the bar sipping cocktails.
Stephanie, from Canada, has put on a sparkly top for the night, but there are few people to show it off to.
"Yeah, it's pretty quiet," she says. "Normally this place is really busy but now it's quite dead. But there's a good spirit here, I'm sure it'll get back to normal soon."
Cancun's lagoon used to be fringed by lush green undergrowth. Now, it's mostly brown scrub.
Cancun's nightlife has been badly affected
Gerardo Peniche runs Shotover Jet. His gleaming red speedboat zips along the smooth waters. He tugs at the wheel and it slips in to a sickening 360 degree turn.
Normally, tourists pay good money to have the wits scared out of them. But there are few fun-seekers here at the moment.
Gerardo estimates that his business is losing around $2,000 a day.
"Right now in this season, we would be taking 50 to 60 people out each day at least. Today, it's around 10 to 17."
Lessons
Gabriela Rodriguez is the Tourism Minister for Quintana Roo state. She rode out the storm with dozens of colleagues in their office.
By the end, the building had been flooded and most of the windows blown out. I asked her what the most difficult legacy of Hurricane Wilma had been.
She replied: "Losing the tourism, this region depends on tourism for its income."
And the lessons learned?
"We need more facilities as shelters. We were ready for a hurricane that lasted two days, but this hurricane stayed four days. We ran out of water and food.
"Even though we took care of the tourists, things that were not expected happened. We have learned that we have to make some changes to make their stay a little less unpleasant."
Cancun makes up one third of Mexico's tourist revenue, bringing in over $3bn a year, but little of this much-needed foreign cash is currently flowing in.
According to government figures, the Cancun region loses $15m each day that it does not have the normal number of tourists.
The Mexican authorities are fully aware of this, and are moving quickly with its re-building initiatives - $200m has been pledged to re-build the tattered beaches.
With this much investment, Cancun cannot fail to make a comeback.
bttt
"Oh well"
I dont really care about Mexicos economy at this point.
I think we should donate about 6 million laborers to the cause. That many good hearted hard working people could have the place up and running in no time.
There are far better places in the Caribbean for beaches, food, shopping and relaxing.
Why anyone over the age of 21 would go there is beyond me.
My wife an I are BOTH over the age of 55. We spent a week in Cancun the first week of January , 05' and had a great time . Had no problems even with a car rental. Spent a great week doing the clubs at night and the beach and pool during the day ( with a good stock of Coronas and cigars ). After reading a lot of the horror stories, maybe we were just lucky OR the others were just unlucky. Stayed at the Cancun Hyatt Caribe and it really was the only digs that had a beach left from previous hurricanes .( 3 pools also )
My wife an I are BOTH over the age of 55. We spent a week in Cancun the first week of January , 05' and had a great time . Had no problems even with a car rental. Spent a great week doing the clubs at night and the beach and pool during the day ( with a good stock of Coronas and cigars ). After reading a lot of the horror stories, maybe we were just lucky OR the others were just unlucky. Stayed at the Cancun Hyatt Caribe and it really was the only digs that had a beach left from previous hurricanes .( 3 pools also )
ping
We could not get a direct flight to Cozumel, so will have to take a bus and ferry to the island. What the heck, I have never been to the mainland before and it will be a new experience for us.
Although it has been a horrible disaster for the businesses, I must admit, it will be nice without the large groups of "Pod People" from the cruise ships.
Having traveled to Cozumel every year for a long time, many people living on the island have become personal friends. Because of this, we chose an old friend, who recently started his own business, for all of our dive operations this year.
Last week, I purchased a new digital video camera, specifically for the purpose of documenting the conditions on the island of Cozumel. Since the hurricane, it has been difficult to obtain good reports and images from the island. I wanted to do my part in fixing this situation.
Have a good time! I have a feeling the locals will be very glad to see you. Yes, could be nice without the crowds.
I remember when Andrew hit Miami, no one at all, none of the news media reported on what had happened in the Bahamas. I knew perfectly well that the hurricane had blown right through Eleuthera, the Berries and the Biminis on the way into here, but it was a real trick trying to find out how the island people had fared. I never really did find out until I found the time to go out there.
I thought it was a little self centered of us to have so little coverage of our neighbors.
Anyhow, have a great trip. Should be fun to see a little of the mainland.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.