Rainy Days

Three weeks into the summer vacation season and resorts at nine seaside destinations report a disappointing 57-6 percent occupancy rate. Not showing up are domestic tourists, who account for about 80 percent of hotel occupancy in Mexico. Many reasons are given for the disappointing figures, from slow economic recovery to more hotels competing for the same number of customers, but the big reason may be the weather. Rain has been falling along both all coastlines for the past three weeks. Inland, many highways are occasionally flooded.

International arrivals are up by 32 percent over last year, 818,000 arriving by air in June. Twice as many Canadians arrived in June this year as compared to last. The number of passengers arriving by cruise ship this year was up by 42 percent, according to official figures.

By Jimm Budd