MEXICO: Tourists are scarce in Mexico's Oaxaca during the traditionally tourism-heavy Christmas season

Record ID: 304023

  • Title: MEXICO: Tourists are scarce in Mexico's Oaxaca during the traditionally tourism-heavy Christmas season
  • Date: 16th December 2006
  • Summary: (LATIN) OAXACA CITY, MEXICO (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE SANTO DOMINGO EX-CONVENT EXTERIOR OF OAXACA CATHEDRAL GUARDED BY POLICE TOWN SQUARE ABSENT OF TOURISTS POLICE PATROLS IN CITY STREETS POLICE ENTERING HOTEL EMPTY RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF EMPTY HOTEL EMPTY RESTAURANT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OAXACA HOTEL AND MOTEL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT, FREDDY ALCANTAR, SAYING: "This year from May to December hotel occupancies fell to ten percent. This is the worst hotel occupancy rates in the history of Oaxaca, the direct result of the bad image that Oaxaca has generated with this political conflict." EMPTY HOTEL ROOM VARIOUS OF HOTEL STAFF WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HOTEL CLEANER, EMA REYES TORRES, SAYING: "Of course it affects us because most of the employees depend on the tips, basically we depend on the tourism, and that is all fallen down." VARIOUS OF FEW TOURISTS IN STREETS VARIOUS OF TOURISTS AT STREET STALLS STREET STALL SELLERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) STREET STALL SELLER, ELIAS MONTANO, SAYING: "Yeah there are not many tourists. They don't come, so all day I don't sell anything." BUSINESS WITHOUT CUSTOMERS TOURISTS FROM THE UNITED STATES CHATTING AND READING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST FROM CALIFORNIA SAYING: "In the United States, Oaxaca is seen as bad, but the reality it that it is really pretty." VARIOUS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE MONTEALVAN EMPTY OF TOURISTS
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA48UP07FB0LS7XZ323T5W6XNYJ
  • Story Text: An eerie calm has fallen over the streets of the pretty Mexican colonial town of Oaxaca. Hundreds of federal officers remain in the city's tree-covered main square, but only a few agents now guard roadblocks that days ago were manned by rows of police in riot gear.
    It just one of the visible signs that Oaxaca is returning to normal after six months of protests and clashes that killed some fifteen people, including one American journalist.
    But this picturesque colonial town is not used to such overwhelming silence.
    This month last year, the city was brimming with Christmas holiday tourists - attracted by town's numerous art galleries, Spanish colonial buildings and colorful Indian markets.
    This year however the hotels are empty. The hustle and bustle is gone.
    Tourism is the economic lifeblood of Oaxaca, but the lengthy standoff led by striking teachers, Indian groups and leftists demanding the removal of Governor Ulises Ruiz appears to have all but snuffed out the industry.
    After a U.S. reporter was killed in the city in October, the United States urged its citizens not to visit the town.
    The Oaxaca hoteliers association says impact has been even worse than the dramatic drop in tourism felt directly after the September 11 attacks.
    "This year from May to December hotel occupancies fell ten percent. This is the worst hotel occupancy rates in the history of Oaxaca, the direct result of the bad image that Oaxaca has generated with this political conflict," said the president of the Oaxaca Hotel and Motel Association Freddy Alcantar.
    Accommodation prices have been slashed throughout the city as hotel owners scrabble to compete over the few travelers that are still venturing into town.
    The state tourism office reports some $400 million in revenue have been lost, and the entire hospitality industry is feeling the effects - right from the business owners down to those who put out the fresh sheets on the hotel beds.
    "Of course it affects us because most of the employees depend on the tips, basically we depend on the tourism, and that is all fallen down," hotel cleaner Ema Reyes Torres said.
    Also suffering are the people that usually sell their wares to the vacationers - pottery makers, rug and carpet sellers, basket weavers and street sellers with all kinds of toys and trinkets.
    Oaxaca's markets used to be known as the one of the most vibrant and extensive in the country, but now only a handful of foreigners can be seen picking over the goods.
    Everyday this street seller - named Elias Montano - opens his stall hopefully, but most days he says he doesn't sell a thing.
    "Yeah there are not many tourists. They don't come, so all day I don't sell anything," street seller Montano said.
    Locals are expecting a long haul until things start to pickup here. A lot of work still needs to be done on the city to clear away the rubble, garbage and graffiti left behind by the conflict.
    There are also concerns violence could flare up again. Ruiz - who the protesters accused of corruption - is still in power, and allegations of torture and illegal arrests have surfaced since the police clampdown.
    In the meantime, those travelers who are there to cash-in on the slashed prices and near-desertion of the area seem almost apologetic.
    "In the United States, Oaxaca is seen as bad, but the reality it that it is really pretty," said one tourist from California in the United States named Bryan.
    The upheaval in Oaxaca began three months ago with a strike of some 40,000 teachers over pay but has since escalated and a new group, the Oaxacan People's Popular Assembly, or APPO, emerged to lead the protests.
    In October, federal riot police barged into the city and managed to gain the upper hand after a series of clashes in which more than 150 people were arrested and rioters burnt down government buildings.
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