'If the hotels go down, everything does': the tourism hotspots hit by slowdown
It is high season on Espadilla beach in Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio national park. Normally, spring breakers, honeymooners and retirees from around the world would be jostling for space on the pristine white sands overlooked by rainforest-covered hills.
But Costa Rica closed all its beaches on Friday to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. Locals tell of mass sackings and the cancellation of thousands of hotel reservations. The shorefront is blocked off with yellow hazard tape and the vultures that linger on the beach each morning seem increasingly ominous.
The coronavirus outbreak has paralysed the global tourism industry, leaving thousands of travellers scrambling to return home and devastating economies that depend on visitors. Central American and Caribbean countries have closed borders and airports, and the cost is likely to be severe.
In Costa Rica, tourists – who sustain 9% of Costa Rican jobs – have been banned from entering until mid April. Similar steps have been taken in neighbouring Panama, another tourism hub, which has had the largest outbreak in the region, at 245 cases. Costa Rica has reported two deaths and 117 cases, and tourism industry representatives have said the shutdown could cost $600m a month.
In Mexico, resorts have reported waves of cancellations. At the weekend, tourists were leaving Cancún and the Riviera Maya, and regional tourism officials said occupancy rates had plunged to 51%.
As of Sunday, Mexico had registered 251 coronavirus cases. It has been relatively slow to respond to the pandemic, announcing a ban on gatherings larger than 5,000 people on Thursday.
The president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been criticised over what some see as a lackadaisical attitude but seems intent on protecting the country’s economy, which was badly hit by the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.
After a visit to Acapulco he said there had been a 94% occupancy rate the previous weekend and quipped: “I hope tourist activity continues like this.”
The Caribbean is also bracing itself for an economic hit. Countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe and the Dominican Republic reported double-digit jumps in the numbers of confirmed cases.
Many had hoped the region would be spared economically since the virus emerged at the end of its peak tourist season. But Jamaica’s tourism minister, Edmund Bartlett, said the industry was facing “imminent closure”.
“[Travel warnings will] be the deciding factor in hotels, attractions and other tourism entities remaining open
or closed,” Bartlett said last week after the US issued advice against travelling abroad. “Survival is the key right now,” he added.
Jamaica, the Bahamas and Guyana have postponed their annual carnivals, and popular destinations such as Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe and Anguilla remain closed to visitors indefinitely.
The Spanish hotel chain RIU announced last Wednesday it was closing three hotels in Jamaica due to a slowdown in demand, resulting in a loss of 1,000 jobs. Most chains along the island’s western coast have since followed suit. “We are facing an unprecedented situation that requires us to take exceptional measures,” RIU said.
Tourism represents more than 15% of the Caribbean’s annual GDP and the sector had already experienced catastrophic damage from hurricanes, which are becoming more intense due to the climate crisis. Experts predict the coronavirus outbreak will drastically alter the regional economy for some time.
“An overall contraction in domestic short-term economic growth is inevitable,” the Bahamas deputy prime minister, Peter Turnquest , told the country’s house assembly.
Governments have attempted to assure citizens that they are ready to take on the looming health crisis as well as the economic fallout. This week nearly 150 Cuban medical professionals arrived in Jamaica to assist with the response. Health officials said a number of Jamaican medial professionals had tested positive for the coronavirus.
In Costa Rica, Olga Murillo, a hotel owner, said she was facing difficult decisions about her staff in the coming days following an 80% drop in bookings and a raft of cancellations.
Her family business had been under this much strain only once before, when a storm caused widespread damage to the hotel, which sits near the entrance to the rainforest in Manuel Antonio.
“It’s a chain. If I’m in trouble, my partners are also in trouble. I won’t be able to maintain the team I have right now. I won’t be able to pay them,” she said. “If the hotels go down, everything goes down.”