More than 530 flights were reported in and out of Cancun International on Friday February 18. The figures were reported by airport managing company Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), who announced an upturn in travel activities.

The figures were an increase from 490 flights the day before.

Jesús Almaguer Salazar, the new President of the Cancun, Puerto Morelos & Isla Mujeres Hotel Association said they are anticipating around 20,000 spring break vacationers, a decrease from what has been in the past.

He said that the covid-19 pandemic will definitely have an effect on the number of arriving young tourists for spring break this year. That impact will be determined on the impact of the pandemic in the United States and Quintana Roo.

“Times are not like they used to be,” he stressed adding that the return to a green epidemiological light next week is a good sign since “young people still depend on their parents’ permission to travel.”

He admitted that state and municipal authorities have managed the pandemic well and have achieved good hotel occupancy rates, rates he’s hoping will remain.

“Unfortunately times are not like before when we would reach 90 or 100,000 tourists during that season. The hotels are trying to optimize the flow of tourists to have better occupancy rates,” he said adding that with the arrival of spring breakers, they expect a slight rebound in terms of capacity.

“Currently we are at 79 percent, however, the projection is to be between 85 and 90 percent within the permitted ranges of the epidemiological light.”