Hotels and other tourism businesses started to reopen in Cozumel, last week, as the island moved into the orange phase of the regional reactivation plan.

The first US tourists also arrived to hotels in nearby Cancun, last week, and the state government has been pushing ahead with tourism safety measures and the reactivation of tourism in the Mexican Caribbean, albeit it at reduced capacity for safety reasons for the moment.

A number of hotels in Cozumel have also already re-opened, beach clubs and possibly public beaches are expected to be able to open from Monday (all at 30% capacity) and flights to the island from Mexico City and the United States are also expected to increase in frequency over the coming weeks.

We don't really expect international visitors to start arriving in significant numbers until mid-July, but that is just our best guess at the moment and will depend on how the phases progress, flight availability and the travel advice of other national governments.

Cozumel has also become one of the first destinations in the world to receive the new "Safe Travels" safety and hygiene stamp from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The stamp is awarded to destinations and tourism businesses that are implementing new protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as reduced capacities, extra cleaning, the use of face coverings and minimum distances between different groups.

At the moment hotels and some tourism businesses are able to operate at 30% capacity. This will increase to 60% when Cozumel moves to the yellow phase of the reactivation plan, which could be as early as June 21, 2020, but depends on indicators including the number of new cases confirmed on the island and the capacity of hospitals.

According to data from the Quintana Roo State Government at 12 noon on June 13, 2020, there had been a total of 63 COVID-19 cases confirmed on the island, with 31 recovered and 13 deaths.

The reactivation is of course great news, but in the meantime there are still a huge number of people on the island who have been without work or income for over 3 months now and so we have extended our Food Aid Cozumel campaign to buy food parcels for those most affected.

Please support and share our the campaign here if you'd like to help those most in need.