The Mexican island of Cozumel welcomed the first cruise since the coronavirus pandemic practically collapsed the tourism industry.
Officials from the state of Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast, welcomed the Adventure of the Seas, of the Royal Caribbean line, after it arrived from Nassau, in The Bahamas, to one of the busiest stops in the world for cruise ships .
The cruise line requires that every passenger over the age of 16 be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The rest will need a medical test.
The governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquín, said that 5% of the passengers – about 150 young people or those with chronic diseases – have not been vaccinated and that they would be subject to special rules. State and federal health officials monitored the arrival.
“The company proposed that the unvaccinated group can only disembark with the hiring of excursions with sanitary bubble protocols, not anywhere,” said Joaquín. “As you can see, these are very strict conditions that these cruise ships bring.”
The cruise line promoted the trip as “an opportunity to venture into Mayan history while visiting Cozumel.”
Quintana Roo is home to tourist complexes such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, and state economic activity is 87% dependent on tourism.
The State Secretary of Health, Alejandra Aguirre, wrote about the arrival of the cruise: “We work together in the orderly reactivation of economic activity. Do your part ”.
However, the destination did not seem to smile on the return of the cruise ships: Wednesday dawned very rainy and there were significant amounts of sargassum on many of the state’s beaches.
Mexico does not require coronavirus testing for arriving passengers, and anecdotal evidence indicates that tourists are drawn to Mexican Caribbean resorts in part because there has been no closure and because health precautions are largely voluntary.
Many visitors remove their masks when they arrive at their hotels or beach clubs.
Quintana Roo has registered a recent increase in COVID-19 cases, in part linked to the increase in travel around Easter week in March and partial restrictions have been implemented in businesses, such as hotels and restaurants, to curb the increase in contagions.
Mexico has never imposed a strict European-style confinement.
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