Gay Nagle Myers
Last year proved to be a banner year for the Riviera Nayarit, the destination that stretches 192 miles along the Pacific coast north of Puerto Vallarta.
The region, which includes the resorts of Nuevo Vallarta and Punta Mita, saw occupancy rise by 33.2% compared with 2009, according to data collected by Sectur, Mexico's tourism department. The increase in occupancy was the highest of any region in Mexico, said Sectur, which also reported that visitor arrivals in the Nayarit jumped 14.3% in 2010 compared with 2009.
The debut of several new properties in 2010 pushed up room inventory up by 5%.
“There is concrete evidence that tourism to Riviera Nayarit is slowly recuperating from previous challenging years. These numbers reinforce our tourism promotion efforts and solidify the destination as one that will … keep growing, regardless of the obstacles,” said Marc Murphy, managing director of the Riviera Nayarit CVB.
Murphy cited surveys indicating that 13% of U.S. travelers recognized the Riviera Nayarit brand, up from 4.3% in 2009.
Awareness among travel agents also has increased, Murphy said, noting that 34.5% of U.S. agents surveyed are knowledgeable regarding Riviera Nayarit, 50.4% are aware of the region’s attractions and 22% want to visit there themselves.
For more information, visit rivieranayarit.com.