Occupancy at Mexico hotels dropped 50% last week after the H1N1 virus outbreak, according to numbers released Thursday by Smith Travel Research.
Hotels in Mexico reported rapid occupancy decreases at the end of April and first few days of May, STR said, noting occupancy was at 36.1% on April 26 and dropped to 24.4% on May 3.
Occupancy dropped 50.7% compared with the same week a year earlier.
"The impact of H1N1 influenza is severe, but we hope it will be fairly short-lived as the international media reports on the easing of travel restrictions," said Jan Freitag, vice president of global development at STR. "However, it will likely be felt throughout the summer."