Navegando por Progreso
El autor invitado Jonathan Ruiz escribe para el periódico financiero mexicano El Financiero. Tiene un interés especial en Yucatán y ha ofrecido colaborar ocasionalmente con Yucatán Living sobre temas que llegan a su escritorio. En este artículo, analiza el crecimiento del negocio de cruceros en Progreso y cómo los negocios locales podrían considerar mejorar su servicio para los cruceristas que desembarcan.
Negocios en la Calle
Cabizbajo, Carlos camina sobre las frescas arenas blancas de Puerto Progreso en un caluroso y soleado día de julio.
“Los negocios no van bien”, le dice a un turista que lo sigue hasta la Banana, un enorme globo flotante con forma de plátano amarillo.
Carlos ofrece la Banana en renta por unos 60 pesos a quien quiera subirse unos minutos. Es un buen precio por un paseo salvaje sobre las aguas poco profundas del Golfo de México frente a esta playa popular en el norte de la península de Yucatán.
“Cada vez viene menos gente de los cruceros a este puerto. ¡Probablemente la mitad que en años anteriores!”, añade.
Puede que Carlos tenga razón sobre su baja en ventas, pero está equivocado respecto a las cifras reales de cruceros, según datos oficiales.
Estadísticas de Cruceros en Progreso
El año pasado, Puerto Progreso ocupó el sexto lugar en número de cruceros que atracaron en puertos mexicanos, por encima de lugares como Mazatlán, Sinaloa y Huatulco en Oaxaca. En total, 115 cruceros llegaron a costas yucatecas en el último año.
Progreso ocupa el segundo lugar en el país si se toma en cuenta el tamaño de los cruceros que lo visitan, según el número de pasajeros registrados por el Gobierno Mexicano en cada barco. En 2015, Progreso recibió un promedio de 2,863 personas por crucero. Sólo la isla de Cozumel en Quintana Roo, con 3,157 pasajeros por barco, se ubicó por encima de Progreso en todo México.
Pero aquí es donde los números difieren de la experiencia de Carlos con su pequeño negocio: a pesar de que Progreso recibió el mismo número de cruceros en 2015 que en 2010, la cantidad de personas que bajaron a tierra aumentó un 16% en esos cinco años. Solo en 2015 llegaron 329,269 personas por crucero, según datos de la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT).
Entonces, ¿qué está pasando este año?
La tendencia parece continuar. De enero a junio, Progreso recibió 51 cruceros con un promedio de 3,028 pasajeros cada uno.
El Problema con Progreso
¿Dónde está el problema? Aparentemente, no tantos cruceristas están dispuestos a visitar el pueblo yucateco más cercano al muelle.
“No se ha logrado aumentar la actividad turística ni las ventas (en Progreso), y eso representa una diferencia con temporadas vacacionales anteriores”, dijo El Diario de Yucatán, citando a la principal asociación local de comercio y servicios turísticos (Canaco Servytur).
José Abraham Daguer, líder de esa organización, informó en un boletín de prensa un mes antes que esperaban un aumento del 7% en las ventas durante esta temporada.
Sin embargo, hasta ahora este año, sólo alrededor de 300 visitantes bajan de cada crucero para caminar por la playa o tomar una cerveza en un restaurante local, según reportes de medios locales. Y cuando sí bajan y conocen el puerto, no parecen gastar tanto como esperan los negocios de Progreso.
¿Por qué pasa esto?
“Es un problema de orden”, dijo Abraham en entrevista telefónica.
Progreso necesita mejorar su imagen, invertir en infraestructura en el malecón y mantenerlo limpio, señala el líder de la principal organización estatal de comerciantes, restauranteros y hoteleros.
“Hay muchos perros caminando por la playa, y eso es algo a lo que la gente local no le da mucha importancia. Pero es justo el tipo de cosas que incomoda a los turistas extranjeros”.
El presidente de la Canaco explicó que el gobierno municipal de Progreso está al tanto de las historias que cuentan los turistas sobre el destino y que ya está trabajando en un plan para contrarrestarlas.
Comentarios como los siguientes se pueden leer en cruisecritic.com de personas que supuestamente visitaron Progreso:
“Nos bajamos del barco para comprar algunas camisetas, pero no nos sentimos cómodos yendo a Progreso. Es un puerto extraño, en nuestra opinión. Algo decepcionante. Pasamos el resto del tiempo en el barco”.
Progreso... ¿en pausa?
Actualmente, la mayoría de los viajeros que llegan en crucero prefieren ir a Mérida, Celestún o Chichén Itzá. Estas excursiones de un día se les ofrecen desde que compran sus boletos, señaló Abraham. Así que, si investigan en internet, podrían decidir saltarse un día de playa en Progreso si leen comentarios negativos.
La promoción de estas excursiones incluso aparece en el sitio web de las líneas de crucero:
“Los cruceros de Carnival a Progreso atracan en la Costa Esmeralda de México, a la orilla del Golfo de México, donde los flamencos rosados se agrupan por cientos y las pirámides mayas, blanqueadas por el sol, se alzan desde la selva. Tierra adentro desde las doradas playas de Progreso están las espectaculares ruinas mayas de Uxmal y la colorida ciudad de Mérida, el mejor sitio de la región para comprar artesanías hechas a mano.” (http://bit.ly/2c6Lh6x)
“Desde hace unos meses, los cruceros vienen de Cozumel, donde ya gastaron todo su dinero. Cuando llegan a Progreso, sólo caminan por la playa y toman cerveza”, dijo Eddie Barbosa, un vendedor local de sombreros, a El Diario de Yucatán en un artículo reciente.
¿Por qué la isla de Cozumel parece ser más atractiva que Progreso? Cuando un crucero llega a Cozumel, los viajeros encuentran tiendas y restaurantes de alto nivel donde comprar y comer. Pueden visitar centros comerciales modernos, bares y clubes de playa con muchos servicios.
“Cozumel ofrece servicios como buceo, tiendas de joyería fina y tiendas libres de impuestos que venden licor, perfumes, cigarros y otras cosas”, señaló Juan José Abraham, de la Canaco.
No es así en Progreso.
“Si necesita usar el baño, tiene que consumir algo de lo que vendo y entonces le doy este cupón para entregárselo a la persona que está en Willi’s, del otro lado de la calle”, dice un mesero en la playa a sus clientes extranjeros, mientras señala un pequeño y austero restaurante al otro lado.
El baño podría parecer aceptable para quienes estamos acostumbrados a cómo son las cosas en las playas mexicanas, pero puede no lucir tan bien a los ojos de quienes acaban de bajar de un crucero de lujo. Además, si no han comido ahí, ¿qué opciones tienen?
¿Progreso... hacia el progreso?
Según Abraham, dos nuevos restaurantes traerán servicios nuevos a Progreso que podrían mejorar la experiencia de los cruceristas en el puerto. Uno se llama Crasbster y el otro La Antigua Bar. Pero parece que se necesitarán más esfuerzos y deberá ser un trabajo coordinado entre el alcalde de la ciudad y el gobierno estatal.
Los yucatecos aún podrían encontrar una forma de diferenciar a Progreso de otros puertos cercanos y aumentar su atractivo para los viajeros en crucero. Vale la pena recordar que fueron los yucatecos quienes inventaron e invirtieron en lo que hoy conocemos como Cancún y la Riviera Maya, lugares creados en solo una generación. Es demasiado pronto para descartar a Progreso, pero es importante entender los retos que enfrenta.
También te puede interesar el artículo de Jonathan Ruiz sobre el crecimiento económico de Yucatán.
Posted By Yucatan Living Contributor
Comments
Sierradave 7 years ago
This article and most comments were posted in 2016, 4 years into a city administration called by many Progeseños "the worst ever." A new government has been in office for six weeks and has already picked up over 500,000 tons (really) of trash, made Malecon improvements and initiated a citizen complaint report service that is actually working. The mayor and tourism director have already met with expats to get our input on how to make the city more attractive.
But having said all that, Progreso is NOT, and I hope never becomes, a sanitized, ersatz-Mexico cruise ship port. This city is first and foremost the largest and most important commercial port in the Yucatan Peninsula, has a huge fishing fleet and is the new home of the Progreso Special Economic Zone that promises to bring billions of pesos in investment to the area.
So get off the ship. DO take a trip to Merida or a Maya city if you've never been there. But cetainly don't be afraid to come and sample a real, working Mexican port town.
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florence coutts 8 years ago
Mr. Daguer has a lot of nerve blaming the poor dogs for the fact that tourists don't want to walk around Progreso. The people of Progreso are the issue. They take no pride in their town, especially in the waterfront. We live on the water, not on the small strip where the hotels clear the sand of sargasso, but on t he other side of the malecon....that glorious, never ending stetch of sand one, unfortunately, is not even able to view. It iscovered with sargasso which is completely littered with garbage during the heart of cruise ship season. On a daily basis we watch Mexican people bring large bags with their home garbage and recycling and simply drop it on the beach. On weekends Mexican families drop poop laden stinky diapers right in the sand where they change their infants.When a few drinks are shared with friends anywhere on the long stretch of boardwalk, no attempt is made to put the empties in the garbage cans. That is because everyone knows that the broken, dilapidated refuse containers will never be emptied. So do the stray dogs try to glean a meal from the leftovers? Ofcourse they do.! But for God's sake do not blame them for the problems of Progreso's image.
Progreso lacks proper infrastructure, plain and simple. The miniscule municiple garbage system only deals with a small specific area of the the central core and certainly not on a regular basis. The rest of the town, where people actually live, appears to have no governmental garbage pickup. Instead, if a family can afford it, they rely on pick up from old, broken down trucks owned. and driven by private citizens.
Frankly, the time that anything to do with cleanliness and image kicks into action is starting the week before Semana Santa so that the wealthy Meridianos who own the beachfront homes will see nothing but pristine beach during their stay.
If Progreso wants to see itself as a tourist destination, it needs to invest in itself. Municipal garbage pickup weekly througout the town, throughout the year, Continuous maintenance of the boardwalk attending to broken boards and garbage bins. Bring in recycling in a big way , banning plastic. If a city as large as Delhi, India can do it, so can Progreso. Removal of the sargasso with trucks is not an ecologically sound prospect. It is also not cost effective. Work with the Mexican scientists who are world leaders in finding uses for the seaweed.
Ask the Meridianos where they do their grocery shopping for their vacation stay in Progreso. Those I have spoken with purchase most of their food and supplies in Merida . Why? Because they consider Progreso to be dirty. If your own Mexican people are not comfortable in Progreso, what do you think foreign tourists see who are leaving the sterile environment of a cruise ship.
. It makes me cry to think that a few innocent dogs may suffer because a bureaucrat could not even muster the energy to examine the issues plaguing Progreso. Progreso has an incredible amount of potential. With proper care it does not need to evolve into another plastic Cancun. It is first and foremost a fishing village. The care, welfare and livlihood of the wonderful men and women who devote their lives to the sea are paramount.
So don't blame the dogs!
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Jim Geezer 8 years ago
Just an idea,..........before you go on vacation, do some homework regarding your destination. Do yourself a favour and the people around you, quit your gd whining. If you want perfection, stay at home. If you want to change the world to suit yourself you won't have anytime to enjoy your vacation. Maybe change the word vacation to grumble trip, Hope this helps.
Regards
Retired Geezer!
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scott laakso 9 years ago
Progreso has a great number of problems to get over if it wants to remain a port of call or the cruise ships. There are drunken fisherman getting right in the face of the few tourists that actually walk towards the malecon " Hey gringo, give me one dollar" seems to be the extent of their english. The beach is trashy no matter how many people are out there picking up garbage: set foot on the beach and look down and you will see rusty bottlecaps everywhere. There are police around but I have never seen them enforce the "no public drunkeness" policy, and this would certainly help. Also enforcing this law might clean up some of the drunks sleeping on the beach in the mornings surronded in their own beer cans from the night before...
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Jonathan Ruiz 9 years ago
I agree. I just come back from Ensenada, Baja California (the other side of the country), and saw many ideas that could be applied in Progreso. I may post them in a different article. Anyway, I have known Progreso since more than 20 years ago and it is true as well that it has improved, but at a very slow pace. I'll keep following its progress, to collaborate in an acceleration for the benefit of its own population. Thanks.
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Gavan Connell 9 years ago
Progreso is a dump as far as tourist options go. They get off the ship, walk two blocks from the bus stop and they are walking through garbage in the streets and past sullen people who look at them as nothing more than the chance to get a few dollars. Meanwhile, who has negotiated a deal with the local Naval base to take passengers from the ship straight out of Progreso? Who has negotiated the dune buggy tours that are allowed to go and take passengers from the ship when nobody else is allowed to go there? Who has a car rental company that has a fleet of Jeeps that take passengers straight from the ship when nobody else is allowed to go there? Previous officials have stolen the cream off the top of the milk before the passengers ever see land. The locals have to make do with the rest. I wanted to start up a tourism business here but was told a top official had the monopoly on that particular type of business and so it would be a waste of time...
I have friends who have cruised to Progreso. They were told on the ship that Progreso is dangerous and not to go off the Malecon. Now who would want them to think that, I wonder to myself?
Seven kilometres from Progreso is the small fishing village of Chicxulub Puerto, where I have lived for a number of years. That village is poor. It is also the place where the most monumental event in the course of the history of the planet took place and NOBODY I have spoken to off a cruise ship knows that. Why not? Why isn't it developed for tourism? Could it be that past administrations from Progreso were so busy skimming the cream off the cruise line industry that they didn't want any competition from Chicxulub? I have brought passengers to Chicxulub Puerto and they are fascinated to know what took place here. They spend a few pesos on an ice cream at the entrance to the pier at Chicxulub and that is the extent of the cruising dollar here in Chicxulub. No wonder people are skeptical about tourism and don't bother to clean up their garbage or keep their dogs off the beach. Of those 3077 passengers per ship, NOT EVEN TEN would know about Chicxulub or how to get here.
But the owner of the tourist bus that takes tours around Progreso Centro and shows them the Palacio Municipal and the Post Office that has the paint peeling off it and then returns to the Malecon reminding people that they should tip the driver would never dream of driving to Chicxulub Puerto to show people where the meteorite landed 60,000,000 years ago.
I have been involved in meetings over the years with government officials who nod their heads in agreement and then do nothing. If they aren't going to make money from something, it is not worth their personal time. I have been told by officials that yes, corruption was present under the previous administration but the new government will be different.
Progreso has the potential to offer more but the locals who already have the business don't want to lose it and the remainder are bludgeoned into a state of hoplessness by alleged government indifference and corruption.
The truth is, the ships only come here because it is on the way to and from Cozumel and the Port taxes are cheap.
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Jonathan Ruiz 9 years ago
I agree. A new opportunity to show Chicxulub to the world is the exploration that right now takes place there. I’ll keep following the story. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/scientists-gear-drill-ground-zero-impact-killed-dinosaurs
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Working Gringa 9 years ago
Gavan, you bring up a lot of good points and important issues. Problems that are difficult to solve, and perhaps impossible to solve as an expat guest in Mexico. We will see what the future holds...
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Gavan Connell 9 years ago
I'm a Mexican, not an expat guest.
Regardless, the problems are difficult to solve.
The response, "Who are we? We can do nothing!" is far too common on the streets of Mexico
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