bajajudy
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Cancun still hurting
Cancun prepares for holidays
The resort city limps toward pre-hurricane capacity.
Wire services
El Universal
December 08, 2005
CANCUN The Caribbean resort of Cancun, the nation's premier tourist draw, has recovered only about a quarter of its capacity to host visitors since
being pounded by Hurricane Wilma in late October, the government says.
Tourism Minister Rodolfo Elizondo predicted that the city would be at about 40percent capacity by the middle of December, when the winter tourist
season begins in earnest.
Before the resort came in for a three-day beating by the slowmoving storm beginning Oct. 21, it had 27,000 rooms available to tourists.
"There are no magic dates (for full recuperation) nor deadlines," said Elizondo. "I think things are going well, and we'll continue working hard."
Cancun's hoteliers say they have a total of some 6,000 rooms back on the market. Both Elizondo and F?lix Gonz?lez, governor of the state of Quintana
Roo where the resort is located, predicted that that number should double by Dec. 15.
The storm battered Cancun and other nearby tourist destinations including Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres, which are also scurrying to
clean up and rebuild.
Apart from the reconstruction efforts, the government has launched an aggressive public relations campaign in the United States, Europe and South
America to encourage tourists not to postpone vacations planned for early 2006.
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bajarich
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I heard that all of the beaches were gone. Is that true?
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Barry A.
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Mood: optimistic
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I heard that too, but-------------
they have the dredges going night and day pumping sand back on the beaches--------no problema!!!
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bajarich
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Nice clean sand no doubt.
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bajajudy
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Funny you should ask
Cancun hotels set to dredge for lost sand
The recovering beach requires the building barriers to reduce the risk of future storm damage.
BY JUSTO MAY CORREA AND ISELA SERRANO/EL UNIVERSAL
El Universal
December 09, 2005
Although Cancun has made some progress in rebuilding hotel rooms, the famous beaches still have just a sliver of sand, having suffered severe damage
from Hurricane Wilma in late October.
An association of 25 hotels has contracted heavy equipment to scrape up sand from the ocean floor and deposit it on the shore.
The Atlantis, a 25-ton dredger that has a 500-horsepower motor, was trucked in for the job from Campeche in pieces and reassembled in Cancun. The boat
carries a 950-horsepower suction pump aboard which pumps 30 percent sand and 70 percent water.
About 1.5 million metric tons of sand are needed to create the 30-meter-wide beaches along the 12 kilometer hotel strip.
The Environment Secretariat (Semarnat) approved a recovery plan proposed by an association of 25 large hotels. The plan seeks not only to restore the
beaches, but also to build breakers to reduce the vulnerability of the hotels.
Patricio Mart?n S?nchez, regional director of the Mexico Center for Environmental Law (Cemda) said he is sympathetic to the goal of the Tourism
Secretariat to get Cancun ready for the winter tourism season, but that extra care must be taken not to damage the area's coral reefs.
Environmental officials will supervise the dredging of the ocean floor. The hotel association will pay US480,000 a month to bring their beaches back
in time to receive Christmas, and later Semana Santa, travellers.
A second phase of recovery will be funded by the federal government with a cost of US20 million, which is scheduled to conclude in July 2006.
The federal government has identified sand reserves in Punta la Ollita and Megarrizaduras to use as an artificial filler which will be capped with a
finer white sand for which Cancun is known.
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bajajudy
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Fox: Beaches ready by April
El Universal
December 14, 2005
Crews will begin working in mid-January to replace the powder-white sand Hurricane Wilma stripped from Cancun?s beaches and plan to finish the job by
the last day of April, President Vicente Fox said on Tuesday.
The federal government has pledged 200 million pesos (US$19 million) to dredge the ocean floor and replenish the beaches, estimating it will take
between 2 and 2.8 million cubic meters (70 to 100 million cubic feet) of sand to finish the job.
"The idea is that in the end, we are better than we were before the hurricane," said Fox, addressing a group of business leaders after a regional
energy summit he hosted with Central American leaders.
Belgian maritime engineering and construction firm Jan De Nul beat out four other bidders to win the rebuilding contract, and will be charged with
maintaining the sand after it has been replaced, Fox said.
Major coastal developments, including large U.S. resorts like Miami Beach, often bring in outside sand to bolster beaches and dunes and protect
against erosion. Hurricanes can displace huge amounts of sand, stripping some beaches while making others bigger.
Packing 145 mph (235 kph) winds and 30-hours of relentless rain, Hurricane Wilma walloped Cancun - the country?s premier resort - in October,
destroying homes, businesses and hotels and blowing away large swaths of beach. Most of the city?s glittering resort hotels, restaurants and
U.S.-style mini-malls remain closed nearly two months later and don?t plan to open until January or February at the earliest.
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