cozcharlie
Contributor
I am just making this post to highlight the giant hole the absence of cruise ships has made in the Cozumel economy. I have mentioned this impact before, but I stumbled across a report with better data. I am just flagging this data to highlight how badly Cozumel needs any tourist revenue or charitable donations you can provide. The headline number is that Cozumel cruise ship direct expenditures in Cozumel are about $474 million a year ($1.3 million per day ). This comes from an annual report prepared by the cruise prior to the pandemic. Since it was an industry report and they have an incentive to skew high, maybe haircut it and call it $1 million a day in lost revenue. This doesn’t even count the hundreds of thousands of lost daily revenue from fewer divers/hotel guests that come by air. Mexico isn’t like the US where the federal government is throwing money at the problem by the trillion, people and businesses are largely on their own to deal with the pandemic (yes there has been some Government food distribution, but that only goes so far )
Please note I am not a fan of cruise ships (especially the lower end ones where passenger shore visits are done on a shoestring budget ), but that doesn’t mean I wanted the islands revenue to go to zero overnight.
The report shows that total direct expenditures by cruise passengers and crew was $474 million. The passengers spend $378 million, the crew spent $45 million and the cruise line itself spend $50 million (Virtually all port and navigation fees).
Cozumel has 3.488 million passenger onshore visits and 676 thousand crew visits (4.164 million total onshore ) The average passenger spend was $108 and average crew spend was $67.
Once again , this is not a defense of the cruise ships This is a reminder of how badly the island is hurting. Any tourist dollars you can come and spend or charity dollars you can send are much needed. I usually just tip/give money to the people I know and expect it will trickle down to the broader economy, but I am sure Dave D, Christi and others can recommend charities
[https://www.f-cca.com/downloads/Caribbean-Cruise-Analysis-2018-Vol-I.pdf]
Please note I am not a fan of cruise ships (especially the lower end ones where passenger shore visits are done on a shoestring budget ), but that doesn’t mean I wanted the islands revenue to go to zero overnight.
The report shows that total direct expenditures by cruise passengers and crew was $474 million. The passengers spend $378 million, the crew spent $45 million and the cruise line itself spend $50 million (Virtually all port and navigation fees).
Cozumel has 3.488 million passenger onshore visits and 676 thousand crew visits (4.164 million total onshore ) The average passenger spend was $108 and average crew spend was $67.
Once again , this is not a defense of the cruise ships This is a reminder of how badly the island is hurting. Any tourist dollars you can come and spend or charity dollars you can send are much needed. I usually just tip/give money to the people I know and expect it will trickle down to the broader economy, but I am sure Dave D, Christi and others can recommend charities
[https://www.f-cca.com/downloads/Caribbean-Cruise-Analysis-2018-Vol-I.pdf]