Note: To inform the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, STR will temporarily publish weekly communication for Mexico based on preliminary data. This preliminary data represents a percentage of STR’s total sample for the region. Once monthly processing is complete, data points will likely appear different.
Mexico’s hotel industry has yet to see declines as steep as those experienced in the U.S. and Canada, but the effects of COVID-19 on travel still played a role in negative year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 8-14 March 2020, according to preliminary data from STR.
In comparison with the week of 10-16 March 2019, Mexico hotels reported the following:
- Occupancy: -13.3% to 60.5%
- Average daily rate (ADR): -3.4 to MXN2,554.81
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): -16.3% to MXN1,546.76
Among data sufficient markets within Mexico, Mexico City, the international business hub of the country, saw the steepest decline in RevPAR (-33.8% to MXN1,294.07), due primarily to the largest drop in occupancy (-29.4% to 54.5%).
Mexico’s beach destinations also experienced year-over-year declines but fared better than many of their business destination counterparts. Los Cabos was among the very few destinations to record only a single-digit RevPAR decline (-5.8% to MXN4,540.35). The slight decrease in the metric was due to a double-digit drop in occupancy (-20.8% to 56.4%). Hoteliers were able to maintain rates in the market, however, with ADR increasing 18.9% to MXN8,048.19.
Puerto Vallarta registered a double-digit drop in RevPAR (-13.4% to MXN2,764.11), due to declines in occupancy (-8.3% to 73.5%) and ADR (-5.6% to MXN3,759.75). It is worth noting that both Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta had shown RevPAR growth for 1-7 March, indicating that Mexico is only now starting to feel the effects of the pandemic on its hotel industry.
Finally, the Mexican Caribbean market, which had been experiencing greater pressures on occupancy and rates than its west-coast counterparts for quite some time, saw a double-digit decline in RevPAR (-17.4% to MXN2,629.82), due to a double-digit decline in ADR (-11.0% to MXN3,678.60). Again, an indicator of the shifting tide for Mexico hotels, year-over-year demand for the market during the first week of March was still positive (+1.9%), but is now well into negative territory (-4.6%), and is sure to continue its downward trend.
0 Comments