By Suzanne Bandick

Over 2 million people visited the Riviera Maya last year!

42% were from the USA

20% were from Canada

10% were Nationals

28% were from Europe

How do we know?

Playa Maya News met with Jose Acevedo Pena, General Manager of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association. What are they up to now?

“The next 5 years will see 5,000 rooms added” says Jose “One of the most important things the hotel association does is monitor the growth to make sure we maintain high quality standards and have the infrastructure in place to environmentally handle it” He adds “This may sound odd as we want to grow but we don’t want to over grow”.

“We currently work with 110 hotels and have 17,400 rooms. We work with the large hotels as well as the small,” he adds “We have a 10% increase in occupancy over last year. This is very good considering the # of rooms available also increased over last year”. Says Jose enthusiastically “Right now it is slow season and we are at 85% occupancy. We are very proud of that.”

What is the role of the hotel association?

They work with the hotel staff; maids, waiters, anyone and everyone connected with the hotels, even the taxi drivers. All training focuses on service and quality. They even teach languages such as English and German.

The hotel association also deals with legal aspects to make sure hotels have all licenses in place and follow certain requirements. As well they support community social programs such as the Breast Cancer Association, aid for the homeless, and visits to seniors.

”Also important is the promotion of the Riviera Maya in the world market so we work with the Tourism Board for advertising the Riviera Maya as a world class destination” adds Jose “We have connections throughout the world that help to promote us”.

Jose continues with “Free events such as parades and music festivals are a real value added bonus for tourists. The response is outstanding. If they are happy they will tell their friends and we are happy”.

Playboy even has a special edition available on the Riviera Maya – a very tasteful issue highlighting all the things we have to offer.

Lesser known is their role in general community happenings; lights on the highway to make it safer, increasing the highway to 4 lanes between Xcaret and Tulum, beach clean up and ecological programs.

Jose is originally from Mexico City but has lived in Veracruz, Acapulco, Rome and London. He has been in the Riviera Maya area for 14 years now and has been General Manager of the Riviera Maya Tourism Board for 2 years. He is obviously thoroughly enjoying his work. He has a master’s degree in marketing as well as a professional chef background.

Jose has worked with past presidents of the association Altredo Soto and Jose Chapur. Current president is Jean Agarrista, general manager for the Royal Hideaway Resort.

Soon they will have a new office. Land has been purchased by the new La Gran Plaza mall and architectural plans are being developed. They will have 8 new classrooms even one for food preparation training.

The Riviera Maya Hotel Association is located in the same offices as the Riviera Maya Board of Tourism in the Playa Med building on the Carretera Federal in Playa del Carmen. They can be contacted by phone/fax at (984)859-2234 or (984)859-227 or www.rivieramaya.org.mx

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