Introduction
Mexico is among the world’s top ten tourist destinations. The country is recognized for its ancient relics and beach resorts worldwide. The country’s varied cities, climate, and landscape provide the tourists with a broad range of travel experiences. Tourism Mexico divides the country into six main tourist areas including Central Mexico, Baja Peninsula, Pacific Coast, Southern Mexico and Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, and Northern Mexico. Nonetheless, the tourism industry in Mexico has of late experienced some highly publicized disasters and violent events, which have essentially called into question that it is secure to visit this nation. Some of the major disasters that Mexico has experienced include the explosion at the Grand Princess Riviera Hotel and the September 2010 seizure of the Mexican tourists during the daytime, among others. For this reason, the paper centers on the explosion at the Grand Princess Riviera Hotel. The Grand Princess Riviera Hotel is an expansive beach hotel located alongside the Gulf of Mexico near Playa del Carmen town. In particular, the paper summarizes the events that happened and the consequent laying of charges against the hotel. The paper then examines the causes of the blast and concludes with the analysis of the effect of disaster in the tourism industry in Mexico.
Summary of what happened during the Explosion
Vacations normally offer a thrilling opportunity for the tourists to enjoy new experiences. Nevertheless, vacations can become nightmares. Sadly, the visitors to the Grand Princess Riviera Hotel in Mexico experienced nightmares at about 9.00 am on November 14, 2010, when an outburst ripped through the Platinum Lounge within the hotel and killed seven individuals. Among the individuals killed, two were Mexican workers, and five were Canadians (CTV News, 2010). The blast was so huge that it pushed the floor into the ceiling of the lobby and dispersed debris and dust throughout the neighboring courtyard. The explosion shattered the windows, left a deep crater, shook the neighboring restaurant’s walls, and sent something like a tremor into the guest rooms and down hallways throughout the beach resort. The force of the blast buried numerous tourists in the debris and thrown others into the courtyard. The explosion shocked the hotel staff and vacationers. They tried to help the individuals who were wounded with limited supplies of first-aid while waiting for the ambulances to arrive.
The hotel staff did not call for an ambulance immediately, and when they finally made the call, they did not provide a full explanation of what had occurred. In addition, the staff made numerous calls to the local 066 dispatch, initially reporting that it was a kitchen fire and after that stated that there had been a blast resulting to numerous injuries. An ambulance took more than thirty minutes to get there as they were delayed at the security gate. The security personnel at the gate at first disallowed the ambulances from entering the hotel since they were not aware of the blast. After the blast, the hotel staff did little to assist the disturbed family members to find out the condition of their wounded loved ones. At the blast site, the ill-prepared and worried hotel employees as well as scared guests tried to tend to those who were injured with very limited supplies of first-aid. What’s more, the hotel employees were not trained well as they lacked the knowledge of how to work with oxygen cylinders.
Sadly, the hotel staff had gone back to “business as usual” approach. After the security personnel allowed the ambulances through the hotel’s gate, the hotel staff chased away the local journalists. In fact, the attorney general had to get in touch with the army so as to get past hotel security. The hotel life inside the resort continued as usual. For instance, the hotel employees were trying to calm down the guests. In the main lobby, the hotel employees were booking tourist excursions despite the fact that some family members were still trying to find out desperately what had happened to their loved ones. The Mexican prosecutors laid formal charges against contractors and five workers from the hotel at the end of January. The charges against these employees and contractors were as a result of a homicide inquiry that had been carried out to establish the cause as well as responsibility for this deadly explosion.
The decisions that the hotel management made after the explosion left people wondering whether they chose to protect their business image at the visitors' expense. Following the explosion, the management and staff of the Grand Princess Riviera Hotel have essentially come under strong criticism for the way they handled the terrible event. One of the criticisms is the lack of information given about the victims. As already mentioned, the staff continued doing business as usual even when the family members asked about the conditions their loved ones. For instance, Terra Charmont, an Alberta citizen spend over seven hours to discover from the hotel employee that her husband and son had been murdered right away in the explosion. People also continue criticizing the hotel management and staff due to the delays in obtaining appropriate medical attention for the wounded. In fact, the employees were not well trained to give the victims proper first aid. In addition, the hotel management and staff are criticized for taking a “business as usual approach” only hours after the explosion. What’s more, the management and staff are criticized for preventing the media and the country’s attorney general from entering the hotel.
Cause of the explosion
In the explosion aftermath, the Mexican authorities promptly ruled out bombs and terrorism causes. However, theories regarding what might have caused the tragic blast varied widely. At first, the Mexican authorities reported that the swamp gas, which had built up underneath the hotel might have caused the blast. Nevertheless, the Environmental and Natural Resources Secretariat in Mexico was in opposition to the “swamp gas theory.” A spokesman of the secretariat claimed that the explosion was probably linked to the problems with the maintenance or operation of the hotel (CBS News, January 24, 2011). There was a suggestion that the extensive use of propane, as well as other gases, might explain the blast. The accumulation of gases was the cause of the explosion as reported in the Hospitality Security Consulting Group (2010) blog.
Three days after the blast, the authorities in Mexico discarded swamp gas as a cause of the explosion and instead started a homicide investigation centering on the construction of the hotel. They eventually found an unauthorized gas-line extension, which was not part of the hotel’s design. For this reason, the Mexican officials fined the hotel about half a million Canadian dollars for incorrect construction plans and shoddy administration as implied by Larson (2011). Along with a fine for erroneous construction plans, the potential for civil lawsuits, and the awaiting criminal charges against five of the workers, the Grand Princess Riviera Hotel was similarly contending with the home protests in support of the two Mexican employees who died in the explosion. The protestors demanded fair compensation for these murdered Mexican employees. The investigators found out that the gas line had essentially been damaged and probably leaked prior to the blast because of its inappropriate installation as well as maintenance (CBS News, 2011). However, according to Brownlee & Larson (2011), a Mexican judge dropped all the charges in the case because the evidence presented before the court was not strong to believe that there was a crime.
Conclusion
Despite tourism being the third main source of income in Mexico, the country’s tourism industry is in essence, finding it a challenge to persuade the tourists that the nation is a secure place to visit. As already mentioned, the country had been plagued by a number of violent episodes. The blast at the Grand Princess Riviera Hotel posed an additional challenge to an already shaken tourism industry in the country. The explosion as well as violent events has resulted in a decrease in the overall tourism spending as the tourists feel less safe within the country. The decline in the tourism spending has made those who are responsible in the Mexican tourism sector work extremely hard to enhance the country’s image. Launching new media campaigns to promote the nation’s culture is among the strategies that they have put in place. The media campaigns have helped in creating a good impression of the country hence this has helped in improving the country’s tourism industry.
References
CTV News. (2010, November 14). 5 Canadians killed in Mexico hotel blast | CTV News. Retrieved from http://www.ctvnews.ca/five-canadians-killed-in-mexico-hotel-explosion-1.574703
The Hospitality Security Consulting Group. (2010, November 16). The Hospitality Security Consulting Group Blog: Seven dead by explosion in Riviera Maya Hotel [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://thehscg.blogspot.com/2010/11/seven-dead-by-explosion-in-riviera-maya.html
CBS News. (2011, January 24). Grand Riviera Princess Hotel explosion - World - CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/grand-riviera-princess-hotel-explosion-1.1023812
Brownlee, K., & Larson, J. L. (2011, August 5). Sun News: Charges dropped in deadly hotel blast. Retrieved from http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/world/archives/2011/08/20110805-114806.html
Larson, J. (2011, November 17). A year after Mexico explosion | Sherwood Park News. Retrieved from http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/2011/11/17/a-year-after-mexico-explosion
ECanadaNow. (2010, November 15). eCanadaNow on Twitter: "Five Canadian Tourists Killed in Mexican Hotel Explosion: A powerful explosion at the Grand Riviera Princess Hot http://bit.ly/dw9AcS". (Twitter Post) Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ecanadanow/status/4240603986526208
