The resort city of Acapulco, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Otis in October 2023, led hotel occupancy during the Easter holiday season, with a 92% occupancy rate according to data from the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur).

These figures place the city as the destination with the highest Holy Week occupancy rate in the country, surpassing tourism destinations like Mazatlán, Cancún, Puerto Escondido and Puerto Vallarta.

Sectur reported that the high tourist influx was distributed across the port’s main areas. The Diamond Zone, known for housing the iconic hotel Princess Mundo Imperial, reported an occupancy rate of 92%. Meanwhile in the Golden Zone, at the foot of the Miguel Alemán coastline, 93% of rooms were booked.

Finally, the area known as Acapulco Tradicional reported 90% occupancy.

After Hurricane Otis hit Acapulco as a Category 5 storm in 2023, Guerrero’s top beach destination was decimated. The recovery was complicated by the arrival of Hurricane John just a year later. Acapulco continues to rebuild, and currently operates with 15,000 rooms distributed across 274 hotels — 76% of what its hospitality sector offered pre-Otis.

Booking.com data revealed that Acapulco was among the destinations with the highest number of reservations from April 17 to 20, along with Veracruz, Puerto Vallarta and Puerto Escondido.

“How wonderful! Long live Acapulco,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said after learning the hotel occupancy figures. “How great that the [Guerrero’s and Acapulco’s] governor and mayor are promoting the return of cruise ships to the port,” she said, while highlighting the importance of tourism as a driver of economic development.

Sheinbaum’s statement came in response to an article published by the newspaper El País, which contrasted the arrival of tourist cruise ships with the port’s recovery and escalating violence.

Meanwhile, the Hotel Association of Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres reported an average occupancy rate of between 65% and 70% in downtown and beach hotels. It also revealed that Cancún, historically one of the leading international destinations of the region, received an average of 485 daily flights — significantly below the 600 daily flights that the association had expected during Holy Week.

With reports from Milenio, Reportur and SPD Noticias