“We barely sell anything at all”.
Mérida, Yucatán.-Merchants of handicrafts and souvenirs still report low sales, despite the daily arrival of beach goers to Progreso since the beaches reopened on November 2, after being closed since March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s still low; with the pandemic everything (is) low,” said Jorge Antonio Cámara Díaz, after assuring that sales are still less than 50% of what they used to be before the pandemic.
He assured that the few tourists who come to the port hardly buy.
“A lot of people pass by and just look, but most don’t buy. They just come to browse,” he said.
“It is affecting us quite a lot. We are open all day and almost no one sells; this pandemic has hit everyone,” said the vendor.
He opens his stand of crafts made with shells and snails in the morning and stays there until 6 or 7 at night.
However, he emphasized, when he sees that the day is cold, he leaves early “why should I stay, if there is no sale”.
He added that weekends are usually the best days to sell, but now even on payday sales do not rebound.
Another merchant, who sells souvenirs along the beach of the Malecon, agreed that the pandemic continues to affect them, since not only are there not many walkers, but also most tourists do not buy.
“Hopefully this will all be over soon, because sales are very bad and we barely make ends meet.
Yesterday, Monday, unlike last weekend, few street vendors worked on the beach.