|
A $42 cruise passenger tax approved by Mexico's Congress last week could result in reduced demand for Mexico itineraries and damage the country's tourism economy, the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) said in a letter to Mexico's president.
Signed by cruise line executives, the letter to President Claudia Sheinbaum said the tax would make cruise tourism in Mexico 213% more expensive than the average Caribbean port, effectively pricing Mexico "out of the cruise market," wrote FCCA CEO Michele Paige.
Signatories include Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley, Carnival Corp. CEO Josh Weinstein, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Harry Sommer and MSC Cruises North America chairman Richard Sasso.
The tax would eliminate a tourist tax exemption that has been in place for cruise lines for more than a decade. The FCCA said that Mexico cruise ports collected $62.6 million in port fees during the 2023-24 cruise year, and that a $42 head tax "is a cost that cannot be easily absorbed by most cruise guests."
Paige warned that the tax would make Mexico itineraries more expensive and thus reduce demand for port calls there. In 2025, Mexican cruise ports are expected to draw more than 10 million passengers and some 3,300 cruise ship calls, the FCCA said.
Paige said the tax would be "particularly damaging" to Quintana Roo, the Mexican state that is home to the Cozumel and Costa Maya ports. Cruise tourism represents 40% of GDP in Quintana Roo, the FCCA claimed.
Overall, the FCCA said, cruise tourism contributes approximately $1 billion in direct spending to Mexico's economy, supporting more than 20,000 jobs and more than $200 million in wages annually.
"This proposed tax could also jeopardize cruise industry investments in the country -- including billions in planned development and other projects -- meant to help rebuild Acapulco, cultivate new Mexican tourist destinations, employ more Mexican seafarers, and provide social programs to help underserved communities in Mexico," Paige said. "Cruise lines will inevitably reevaluate the viability of these investments considering the potential loss of consumer demand for Mexico cruises driven by the unprecedented tax increase on cruise tourism."
Paige expressed disappointment over the lack of consultation with cruise lines, saying there has been a "longstanding mutually beneficial relationship between Mexico and the cruise industry."
"We were completely caught off guard with last week's unilateral decision to eliminate the longstanding exemption and efforts to fast-track this policy change without any dialogue with the industry," Paige said. "We are also concerned with the last-minute notification and implementation of this new policy expected to take effect in approximately one month. This gives us and our partners virtually no time to prepare and creates confusion and uncertainty for our guests because the majority of our cruises have already been sold for 2025."
===============================================
Frontier Airlines plans to introduce "first class-style" seats in late 2025.
Renderings show wide-bodied seats that will be configured in the standard domestic first-class formation of two seats on each side of the aisle. They'll occupy the first two rows of Frontier planes.
The airline aims to retrofit its entire Airbus fleet with the wide seat by the end of next year. It hasn't revealed how much legroom those rows will have. The seats will be a spacious 21 inches in width from mid-armrest to mid-armrest.
Rival budget airline Spirit has a similar product, the Big Front Seat, in the plane's first two rows. Big Front Seats are 18.5 inches wide and offer 36 inches of legroom.
Earlier this year, Frontier began an initiative -- called "The New Frontier" -- to increase its appeal to premium flyers, and the new seats will be the initiative's first physical change to aircraft interiors. In May, Frontier introduced a merchandising model that moved bundled fares to the front of the booking path. Meanwhile, Frontier de-emphasized what long has been its bread and butter -- basic fares and the separate upcharges for ancillary items such as carry-on bags, checked bags and seat selection.
Frontier introduced new bundles, most notably the business bundle, which blocks the middle seat in two of the three extra-legroom rows that currently occupy the front of Frontier planes. The product, called UpFront Plus, will be moved to rows 3 and 4 with the retrofit. Frontier has not said whether those rows will be spaced more widely than the 28 inches that separate the rows of standard Frontier seats.
Besides the first class-style seat, Frontier announced loyalty program enhancements on Tuesday. Especially notable will be unlimited companion travel for Frontier Miles members at the top two status levels -- Diamond Elite and Platinum Elite. The perk will be available for one companion on any flight.
Frontier also will offer free upgrades to the first class-style seat and UpFront Plus on every flight to Diamond, Platinum and Gold elite members, subject to availability. Currently, those same members can receive upgrades to Frontier's extra-legroom seats.
New promotions will help customers reach elevated status much more quickly. Flyers who earn 20,000 points between now and April 30, either by flying or by using a Frontier co-branded Mastercard, will achieve Platinum Elite, a status that typically requires 50,000 points. Points are rewarded at a rate of 10 per dollar spent.
Through the end of January, Frontier is also offering up to 100,000 points for individuals who currently have another airline credit card and sign up for the Frontier card.
===============================================
Seven years after the debut of its Unico 20°87° Riviera Maya all-inclusive in Mexico, AIC Hotel Group is expanding Unico Hotel Collection to Mexico's Puerto Vallarta and Jamaica's Montego Bay.
The Unico 21°105° Puerto Vallarta is scheduled to open in fall 2025. The 141-room resort will feature ocean views of Banderas Bay, four restaurants and bars, a fitness center, a spa and wellness facilities, and four pools (including a rooftop pool).
The Unico 18°77° Montego Bay has yet to announce an opening date.
Unico puts the latitude and longitude coordinates in the resort name.
Ash Tembe, vice president of sales and marketing at AIC Hotel Group, called Unico expansion "a natural next step."
"Our approach resonates with guests, distinguishing us in the all-inclusive market with a level of service and culture rarely seen in the industry," Tembe said.
AIC Hotel Group manages sales and marketing for luxury properties throughout the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, including hotels and resorts with the Eden Roc, Nobu and Hard Rock brands.
===============================================
After more than five years of frenetic, but sometimes interrupted, reconstruction work, Notre Dame Cathedral showed itself anew to the world on Nov. 29, with rebuilt, soaring ceilings and creamy, good-as-new stonework erasing somber memories of a devastating fire in 2019.
Images broadcast live of a site visit by French president Emmanuel Macron showed the inside of the iconic cathedral as worshippers might have experienced it in previous centuries, its wide, open spaces filled with bright light on a crisp and sunny winter's day that lit up the vibrant colors of the stained glass windows.
Outside, the monument is still a construction site, with scaffolding and cranes. But the renovated interior -- shown in its full glory Friday for the first time before the public is allowed back in on Dec. 8 -- proved to be breathtaking.
Gone are the gaping holes that the blaze tore into the vaulted ceilings, leaving charred piles of debris. New stonework has been carefully pieced together to repair and fill the wounds that had left the cathedral's insides exposed to the elements. Delicate golden angels look on from the centerpiece of one of the rebuilt ceilings, seeming to fly again above the transept.
The cathedral's bright, cream-colored limestone walls look brand new, cleaned not only of dust from the fire but also of grime that had accumulated for centuries.
Powerful vacuum cleaners were used to first remove toxic dust released when the fire melted the cathedral's lead roofs.
Fine layers of latex were then sprayed onto the surfaces and removed a few days later, taking dirt away with them from the stones' pores, nooks and crevices. In all, 42,000 square meters of stonework were cleaned and decontaminated -- an area equivalent to roughly six soccer pitches.
"It feels like it was built yesterday, like it's just been born, even though Notre Dame is very old," said stonemason Adrien Willeme, who worked on the reconstruction. "Because it's been so carefully restored and cleaned, it looks really extraordinary."
Cleaning gels were also used on some walls that had been painted, removing many years of accumulated dirt and revealing their bright colors once again.
Carpenters worked by hand like their medieval counterparts as they hewed giant oak beams to rebuild the roof and spire that collapsed like a flaming spear into the inferno. The beams show the marks of the carpenters' handiwork, with dents made on the woodwork by their hand axes.
Some 2,000 oak trees were felled to rebuild roof frameworks so dense and intricate that they are nicknamed "the forest."
Macron's visit kicked off a series of events ushering in the reopening of the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece. At the end of his tour, the president addressed hundreds of workers gathered inside the cathedral and thanked them for their labors on what he called the "building site of the century."
"The shock of the reopening will, I want to believe, be as powerful as the one of the fire. But it will be a shock of hope," he said. "The inferno of Notre Dame was a wound for the nation. And you were its remedy."
Macron will return on Dec. 7 to deliver another address and will attend the consecration of the new altar during a solemn Mass the following day.
| 
