Rocky Point tourism grows
Mexican beach town sees return of students, families for spring break
By Daniel González
The Republic | azcentral.com
It looks as if spring break was a major success for tour­ism in Rocky Point this year.
Preliminary figures show that the hotel-occupancy rate at the beach resort town known lo­cally as Puerto Peñasco aver­aged 43 percent during the first two weeks of March, said Hec­tor Vazquez del Mercado Marti­nez, president of the Puerto Pe­ñasco Convention and Visitors Bureau.
That is up 4 percent from the same period the year before, Vazquez said.
The town has about 6,500 ho­tel beds, up from about 3,000 in 2005, he said.
More than 50,000 people, most of them from Arizona, vis­ited Rocky Point during the first two weeks of March, mak­ing this one of the busiest spring breaks for the town in years, he said.
Visitors spent on average $55 per person a day during spring break, leaving behind $2.5 million, Vazquez said.
The town, located on the Gulf of California, is about 215 miles from Phoenix and has long been a popular spring-break destina­tion for college students and families from Arizona.
But tourism from Arizona to Rocky Point plummeted in the wake of U.S. State Department warnings about drug-cartel vio­lence along the Mexican border, the recession, tighter border se­curity and regulations requir­ing tourists to have valid pass­ports to re-enter the U.S.
In recent years, however, tourism to Rocky Point has been increasing steadily as the econ­omy in the U.S. continues to im­prove and Americans’ concern about drug-cartel violence eases, Vazquez said.
“We as a convention and visi­tors bureau are pleased be­cause besides the natural beau­ty of our town once again we can show that this is a peaceful and quiet place to come relax and have fun,” Vazquez said.
Mexican beach town sees return of students, families for spring break
By Daniel González
The Republic | azcentral.com
It looks as if spring break was a major success for tour­ism in Rocky Point this year.
Preliminary figures show that the hotel-occupancy rate at the beach resort town known lo­cally as Puerto Peñasco aver­aged 43 percent during the first two weeks of March, said Hec­tor Vazquez del Mercado Marti­nez, president of the Puerto Pe­ñasco Convention and Visitors Bureau.
That is up 4 percent from the same period the year before, Vazquez said.
The town has about 6,500 ho­tel beds, up from about 3,000 in 2005, he said.
More than 50,000 people, most of them from Arizona, vis­ited Rocky Point during the first two weeks of March, mak­ing this one of the busiest spring breaks for the town in years, he said.
Visitors spent on average $55 per person a day during spring break, leaving behind $2.5 million, Vazquez said.
The town, located on the Gulf of California, is about 215 miles from Phoenix and has long been a popular spring-break destina­tion for college students and families from Arizona.
But tourism from Arizona to Rocky Point plummeted in the wake of U.S. State Department warnings about drug-cartel vio­lence along the Mexican border, the recession, tighter border se­curity and regulations requir­ing tourists to have valid pass­ports to re-enter the U.S.
In recent years, however, tourism to Rocky Point has been increasing steadily as the econ­omy in the U.S. continues to im­prove and Americans’ concern about drug-cartel violence eases, Vazquez said.
“We as a convention and visi­tors bureau are pleased be­cause besides the natural beau­ty of our town once again we can show that this is a peaceful and quiet place to come relax and have fun,” Vazquez said.