Mexico's Acapulco Hopes for Rebound as Virus, Violence Drop

Members of Mexico's National Guard keep watch during the reopening of the beaches and hotels after confinement measures were eased this week, in Acapulco, Mexico July 2, 2020. (Reuters)
Members of Mexico's National Guard keep watch during the reopening of the beaches and hotels after confinement measures were eased this week, in Acapulco, Mexico July 2, 2020. (Reuters)
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Mexico's Acapulco Hopes for Rebound as Virus, Violence Drop

Members of Mexico's National Guard keep watch during the reopening of the beaches and hotels after confinement measures were eased this week, in Acapulco, Mexico July 2, 2020. (Reuters)
Members of Mexico's National Guard keep watch during the reopening of the beaches and hotels after confinement measures were eased this week, in Acapulco, Mexico July 2, 2020. (Reuters)

Mexico’s Pacific coast resort of Acapulco is putting its hopes on a return of tourists as the number of coronavirus cases drops and the violence that drove travelers away slowly declines.

The governor of the state of Guerrero said Friday that hotels will now be allowed to accept guests at 40% capacity, up from 30% previously under pandemic restrictions. Gov. Hector Astudillo bragged that Acapulco has reduced the number of COVID-19 deaths to an average of 9.6 per day and alleviated the overcrowding that plagued the city's hospitals earlier in the pandemic.

The city, once ranked as the fifth most deadly in Mexico, has fallen to 44th place. Homicides were down about 20% in the first half of 2020, compared to the same period of 2019.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador visited the once-glamorous resort Friday and pledged to fix pollution problems that affect the resort’s famous bay.

“We are going to clean up Acapulco, we are going to clean up the bay so that there is no more pollution. That is my commitment,” he said. In June, heavy rains caused storm drains to overflow, sending sewage and waste into the bay.

Unlike most experts, López Obrador predicted a quick end to the pandemic.

“What I feel — my prediction — is that soon, very soon, we will return to normality,” the president said. “Economic activity is returning, tourism is returning to Acapulco, but I predict that in a month, two months, we will have very favorable conditions.”

Even if those predictions are fulfilled, it will still be a long road back for Mexico’s battered tourism industry. In the first quarter, tourism revenues were down 51.5% and figures for the second quarter are certain to be worse.

With about 800,000 hotel rooms, Mexico's has the world's seventh-largest hotel infrastructure. In 2018, tourism accounted for 8.7% of Mexico's GDP and provided about 2.3 million jobs.

Many of those jobs have evaporated in the pandemic. Even under the best-case scenario, if travel alerts were lifted — Mexico currently has the highest “do not travel” alert from the US State Department — hotels in Mexico would end the year with only about 47% occupancy, on average.



US Treasury's Bessent Urges IMF, World Bank to Refocus on Core Missions

 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, to the Institute of International Finance Global Outlook Forum at the Willard Hotel in Washington. (AP)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, to the Institute of International Finance Global Outlook Forum at the Willard Hotel in Washington. (AP)
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US Treasury's Bessent Urges IMF, World Bank to Refocus on Core Missions

 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, to the Institute of International Finance Global Outlook Forum at the Willard Hotel in Washington. (AP)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, to the Institute of International Finance Global Outlook Forum at the Willard Hotel in Washington. (AP)

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday called on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to refocus on their core missions of macroeconomic stability and development, arguing that they have strayed too far into vanity projects such as climate change that have reduced their effectiveness.

Bessent, in remarks outlining his vision for US engagement with the IMF and World Bank on the sidelines of the institutions' spring meetings, said that they serve critical roles in the international financial system.

"And the Trump administration is eager to work with them - so long as they can stay true to their missions," Bessent said in prepared remarks to the Institute of International Finance.

"The IMF and World Bank have enduring value. But mission creep has knocked these institutions off course. We must enact key reforms to ensure the Bretton Woods institutions are serving their stakeholders - not the other way around," he said, calling on US allies to join the effort. "America First does not mean America alone."

Bessent said the IMF needed to focus on its key mandate and adhere to strong standards in its lending.

"The IMF was once unwavering in its mission of promoting global monetary cooperation and financial stability. Now it devotes disproportionate time and resources to work on climate change, gender, and social issues. These issues are not the IMF's mission."

"And sometimes, the IMF needs to say 'No.' The organization has no obligation to lend to countries that fail to implement reforms."

Bessent added that the World Bank must be "tech-neutral and prioritize affordability in energy investment. In most cases, this means investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production."

He added that it could also finance renewable energy projects along with systems to manage energy latency in wind and solar.