Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico – More than a year after COVID-19 caused the cancellation of cruises in 2020, the Jalisco Tourism Secretariat (Secturjal) reports that the gradual reactivation of cruise tourism in Puerto Vallarta is scheduled to begin in August 2021, a fact that will benefit the economic and tourist reactivation of this destination.
With strict adherence to health protocols, negative coronavirus tests, sanitary measures and other processes that guarantee the health safety of passengers and crew, international cruises have begun their gradual reactivation, and in the case of Puerto Vallarta, the first cruise is expected to arrive in August, the date on which the Carnival line will resume its voyages through the Mexican Pacific.
“There is good news for the tourism sector in the coming months with the gradual and responsible reactivation of cruises, a segment that due to the health emergency was canceled for a year, and which will undoubtedly be a trigger for economic recovery, thanks to the influx and spill that they generate,” commented the head of the agency, German Ernesto Kotsiras Ralis Cumplido.
According to the Integral Port Administration (API), in 2018, 137 cruise ships arrived in Puerto Vallarta with 360,812 cruise passengers, which left an estimated economic spill of around 651 million pesos, and in 2019, it increased to 181 cruise ships, which transported 482,335 passengers and left an estimated economic spill of close to 870 million pesos.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all cruises were canceled in March 2020, so at the end of that year only 73 cruise ships had arrived, with 151,359 passengers, the highest amount that had ever been received in the first trimester. It is estimated that the economic benefit was around 272 million pesos.
It is important to note that during the health emergency, the Government of Jalisco, in coordination with the three levels of government, provided support to repatriate cruise passengers and crew members through humanitarian bridges in Puerto Vallarta.
Source: jalisco.gob.mx