The study, conducted by STR Global, one of the world leaders in market research for the hotel industry, takes into consideration the behavior of the business in cities such as Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, San José, Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo.
The analysis yields quite interesting data. On the one hand, Rio de Janeiro was the only city of the seven revised that reported monthly growth in the demand for rooms throughout 2009, and remained in this trend during January and February of this year. Among those that had decreases in 2009, Sao Paulo was the one that suffered the least and is, along with Buenos Aires, the city that grew the most in the first two months of the year. Brazilian coincidence or success? We will have to look. The fact of Buenos Aires is surprising, which in the consolidated of 2009 had a decrease of more than 15% in demand (in terms of occupation), at the end of the second month of 2010 it had grown almost 15%.
These facts generate several positive balances. On the one hand, it confirms the general perception that despite the intensity of the economic crisis of the previous year, the Latin American economy was the one that suffered the least in the global context and one of those that first recovered.
The other thing is that it is undeniable that a significant number of the visitors that Latino hotels have are business travelers from the United States, which, if the aforementioned numbers plus the figures of the growth of the American economy in the first quarter of the year are taken into account, indicates that the first economy in the world is taking solid steps towards economic recovery, something that really benefits the Latin American coffers.
The only thing left to recommend is to make the most of this good news and consolidate customer service programs, since times of recession and recovery are the most conducive to loyalty. Do not forget that one always remembers who best treated him in lean times.
