Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - Thanks to an influx of foreign tourists, mostly from the United States and Canada, Puerto Vallarta hotels have maintained high occupancy rates during the first part of the year.

The Ministry of Tourism of Jalisco (SECTURJAL) reported that hotels in the Northern, Marina, Central, Southern, Hotel, and Romantic Zones had an above average 80% occupancy during the first three weeks of January. He reported that some of the city's luxury hotels, like Casa Velas, Marriott and Velas Vallarta, have maintained an occupancy rate of above 90% on week days and have had a 'full house' on weekends, but in general, none of the hotels in Puerto Vallarta have fallen below 70% of their respective occupancies this year.

After celebrating the first long weekend of the year, (which brought 150,000 tourists and an estimated $425 million pesos to Vallarta,) officials and businessmen estimate that these numbers will be maintained or even improved and, with the joint Vallarta-Nayarit promotional campaign resulting in higher hotel occupancy rates overall, they surmise that this will continue for several more weeks - right up until the Semana Santa, Easter and summer vacationers arrive.