The president of Cetur tourism-trade group explains that tour operators will have to pay the 20 dollars since the packages have already been sold to tourists…//
THE PRESIDENT of CETUR, Jaime Solís Garza, regretted that the Executive Branch did not consult with tour operators for the increase to $20 dollars from $10 dollars at the entrance to Chichén Itzá, which is a blow to the tour operators who hire the packages even with a year of anticipation.
“That cost we are going to have to absorb, and added to that is the fact it is not going to generate the resources that the Government is trying to capture, since the arrival of tourists will be reduced,” he said.
The problem for the members of the Tourism Business Council of Yucatan (Cetur) is that they usually operate six months or a year in advance in their packages for foreign tourists, so logically they already have prices based on this year.
“All tour operators, travel agencies and cruise lines have already signed contracts for up to one year, so there is no way we can absorb that 110.5% increase to the cost of entering Chichén Itzá, which if approved in the Budget in the Plenary, will reach 480 pesos for each visitor from abroad,” he added.
According to Solís Garza, more than 90% of the visitors to Chichén Itzá are of foreign origin and 90% come from Quintana Roo globally, so those visitors will prefer to go to Tulum, which charges 75 pesos admission.
For his part, Luis Herrera Albertos, of the Association of Tourism Promotion Agencies of Yucatan (Aaprotuy), said that beyond charging less or more, tourism requires very important planning.
Text: Esteban Cruz Obando
