Days after the Los Cabos Hotel Association announced it was preparing for a partial opening of hotels in the popular southern Baja resort on June 1, the organization changed its mind and pushed back the date indefinitely. 

The state still has high levels of coronavirus infection, and last week the association’s president, Lilcí Orcí, said it was working instead on a cautious reopening plan which would be put into place once state health officials determine it is safe to do so. 

“In line with the federal authorities, a slight rethinking of the reopening phases was made,” Sandra de la Garza, public relations coordinator for the Los Cabos Tourism Board told Mexico News Daily. “Any decision that is made depends on the day-to-day development of the pandemic in the country and is therefore subject to change.”

Protecting the health of workers as well as visitors takes precedence over economic concerns, Orcí said, and all tourism providers will work together on health and hygiene guidelines for tourists. 

Los Cabos will not offer a two-for-one plan on hotel nights to encourage visitors to return, as Cancun has discussed, but will rely instead on strict sanitary measures as a marketing concept through the Punto Limpio, or Clean Spot certification, a program that already exists but will be modified to reflect particular concerns associated with the coronavirus.

The Ministry of Tourism, Economy and Sustainability says Clean Spot training is set to begin today. 

The certification process is divided into four phases and takes two months to obtain. Around 400 businesses will participate in the first stage of training, the government said.

“The idea is that we all have the same objective, that is why we are all under this same comprehensive plan and with this certification we will be working under unified criteria in hygiene and health that will give tourists the safety they are looking for right now,” said Orcí. 

Tourism numbers for 2020 are expected to drop to just 25% of the visitors the resort destination normally receives in a year. Los Cabos will be lucky to see 1 million visitors.

Source: Diario El Independiente (sp), El Universal (sp)