Home Business-newBusiness Crowds pack Merida shopping malls during the holidays

Crowds pack Merida shopping malls during the holidays

by Yucatan Times
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A few hours before the end of the year 2022, the malls and the city center were packed Thursday, December 29, but, unlike last week, when everyone was looking for a gift for loved ones or a change of clothes to wear, now the objective is to spend a pleasant moment with family and friends, mostly at home but also in a restaurant, hotel or tourist site.

In this regard, the president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Canaco-Servytur) of Merida, Ivan Rodriguez Gasque, told Peninsular Punto Medio that, although the influx to the Historic Center and commercial plazas of the Yucatan capital is very good, normally sales in many areas decrease by up to 50% compared to the week before Christmas.

“Obviously, since the beginning of December the commercial movement is very positive, but the most commercial dates, with more sales, are those prior to the 24th, because the Christmas bonus is paid on the 15th,” commented the interviewee, who emphasized that at this time it is the areas related to services and tourism that register the most intense activity, as well as hotels, which will have a lot of activity with the dinners on the 31st.

“We are not saying that at this moment sales are bad, since we must remember that in the month of December many businesses achieve up to 60% of their sales throughout the year, but now it is the restaurants and stores where you can buy everything related to the dinner that have greater activity,” detailed the leader, who considered that the Christmas season will close with a positive balance for the commercial sector with figures of between 8 and 10% in sales compared to 2019.

We continue to see commercial movement due to two factors, school vacations and tourism -expressed Rodríguez Gasque, who recalled that these days hotel occupancy is between 85 and 90% and there are even some that are reported full, while in the commercial plazas, in general, continue with a good number of visitors.

In fact, in a tour of the restaurant area of a well-known mall, located in the Golden Zone, the Peninsular Punto Medio team observed how numerous families were waiting for a table to be vacated, while in the aisles long lines were formed even to buy ice cream in the “small shops“.

In the same way, businesses located in Merida’s Historic Center reported good sales, especially in branches related to sweets and piñatas, and the sale of supplies to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner, in addition to the sale of clothes and shoes, although in these cases in smaller proportion compared to the week of December 15 to 24.

As a matter of fact, the leader of the Canaco, informed that due to the weather conditions caused by the arrival of the Cold Front 19, the sales reported on the 24th presented an affectation that, he considered, “was not so important”.

In general, he qualified the balance as very positive for the state, since very important records were broken, such as the 3 millionth passenger at Merida’s International Airport.

This has been possible thanks to several factors, among them the growth of the tourism and industrial sectors, without forgetting that 70% of the state’s economy depends on the commerce and services sector.

Rodriguez Gasque invited the citizens to celebrate 2023, although he warned that the beginning will be complicated due to the inflation issue that will be impacting, at least in the first quarter, but he expressed his confidence that, at the end of the day, it will be just as positive for the sector.

“Many factors will be combining to cause us to have problems with inflation, as is the case of the increase in the minimum wage and the fact that many merchants can no longer absorb the increases and apply them to their products, so in January the inflationary indexes will be higher than recent averages”, said the business leader, who, regarding a possible increase in the price of gasoline, commented that the federal government has controlled this factor, so apparently there will be no increase, however, he said, “federal policy can change from one day to the next”.

Price increases are expected

Jorge Cardeña Licona, president of the National Chamber of Small Commerce, Services and Tourism (Canacope-Servytur), spoke of a January slope “that does not look good at all”, since although for the moment prices have remained stable, and with variations “of a few pesos”, as of January 1st there will be a new price increase, which will represent a hard impact on the economy at a national level.

The leader of the small merchants emphasized that the solvency of the workers is bad and that it is necessary to work twice as hard to have access to a part of the basic food basket.

“Unfortunately, with the new year prices of various products will increase, and here it should be noted that we have tried to cope with this escalation of prices, but we have reached a limit and we cannot continue the same; in fact, as from January there will be an increase in the price of products such as sugar and wheat flour, due to their scarcity due to the war conflict in Ukraine and Russia”, he explained.

The business leader considered that at this time, the economic situation is so complex that many employers “are pulling and stretching” looking for a way to keep their businesses afloat, and that, in many cases, they end up lowering their curtains for good.

“The same happens with small commerce, where many succumb to the lack of sales, unfair competition and increases in electricity rates and taxes they have to pay,” said Cardeña Licona, who stressed that informality continues to hit the business sector, as it has to do with the decrease in sales.

“Let’s see what the year 2023 has in store for us, which is coming with too much scarcity, inflation and price increases in the basic food basket”, said the leader, who finally asked citizens to take care of themselves and put into practice all the prevention measures to avoid covid-19 contagion, since, if necessary, returning to confinement would be deadly for the business sector, especially for small commerce.

TYT Newsroom

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