The General Director of Ports proposed the implementation of coordinated and uniform protocols and measures in all destinations in the country to reactivate the industry.

Mexican ports are ready to receive cruise ships with tourists again, as long as they comply with the protocols and measures established by the sanitary authorities, assured the general director of Ports, Fernando Bustamante Igartúa, who requested the reactivation of the Inter-Secretarial Commission of Cruises and the local committees, with the purpose of defining the strategies that will help to promote this industry.

Participating in the videoconference "The Return of Cruise Tourism in Mexico", organized by the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco-Servytur), the general director of Ports pointed out that in the first half of this year, 863 cruise ships arrived with almost 2.3 million passengers, 51 and 41 percent less, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

He pointed out that this has affected the regions due to the economic benefits of cruise ship tourism and represents losses for the shipping lines, due to the cost of anchorage maintenance and the impediments during the pandemic for the disembarkation of the crews.

In the presence of the Undersecretary of Quality and Regulation of the Ministry of Tourism, Humberto Hernandez-Haddad, the General Director of Ports, emphasized that the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) includes within the Agreement for Essential Activities in the attention of the health emergency by COVID-19, the maritime and port operation, for the entry and exit of passenger and merchandise ships, as well as humanitarian bridges.

The General Director of Ports of the SCT commented that, as a measure to safeguard human rights, the Mexican Government implemented a program with the intervention of the different competent agencies and the three levels of government, to carry out 15 Humanitarian Bridges, in which 2,383 crew members and passengers were repatriated.

For his part, the Municipal President of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Pedro Joaquín Delbouis, said that in the port city that leads the cruise ship movement at a global level, severe measures are being taken to face the sanitary emergency; among them, a permanent campaign to raise awareness among the population. He trusted that the experience gained by the people of Cozumel in the face of the meteorological phenomena will serve to get out of this situation, which has had a considerable impact on the tourist operation, in the best possible way.

Present at the videoconference were, among others: Luis Alegre Salazar, Chairman of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of Deputies; Jennifer Marmanillo, Director of Itinerary Planning for Norwegian Cruise Line; Carlos Estrada, Director of Commercial Operations for Carnival Corporation; and Sean Treacy, Vice President of International Sales for Royal Caribbean International.