Green traffic light for the Riviera Maya and Quintana Roo

After a bit of a worrying jump back up the traffic light system from green to yellow to orange, we are back in green. The latest wave of omicron has passed through the area. This last wave was expected and at the same time expected to fall again, just like the patterns in Europe and the United States. Mexico often follows shortly behind trends in the United States for Covid-19 waves. The green traffic light means less restrictions and hospitalizations are lower.

covid restrictions playa del carmen — Both the north end of the state and south end are the same green traffic light.

What are the current restrictions in the Rivera Maya?

Under the green traffic light, restrictions for tourist are virtually gone. It is very important to note that masks are still required inside and on the street. We do predict that in the coming months these last restrictions for masks will be dropped, like many places are now doing in the United States and other countries.

Transportation restrictions for Quintana Roo State

As you can see from the chart below, the different colors of the traffic light change the restrictions on transportation. In the green traffic light all public transportation is 100% (like yellow and orange colors). Taxis under the green light can carry 3 people now and a driver, so a total of 4 per taxi. Motorcycles are allowed 2 people now under the green light.

Taxis can be good for getting around Playa Del Carmen and for going to nearby attractions. We do however still recommend private transportation to and from the Cancun Airport because of set prices and reserved service.

How the traffic light system works in Mexico

Mexico has set up a traffic light system with four stages. Each has different restrictions and based on case loads and available medical services, the traffic light changes. There is red, which is extreme caution, orange, yellow and green, which is the lowest level of restriction. The traffic light method is a fairly easy to understand and gives guidance for businesses to enforce different restrictions.

Each week the Governor of Quintana Roo announces on Twitter what the traffic light will be for the following week. There are also announcements for residents for vaccinations and boosters the the Governors Twitter feed.

So how is tourism now in the Riviera Maya?

We are slowly winding down the high season, but as anyone knows, tourism fluxes a lot with news and events. Overall, Mexico has done very well with tourism numbers. Last week there were 357,326 tourists in the state. There were 270 flights that arrived. Of those arrivals, 78 were domestic flights and 192 flights were international.

Hotel occupancy is the greatest in Cancun, then Cozumel and then the Riviera Maya. These numbers do not tell the whole truth though. Cancun is more of an all inclusive hotel area with less non-hotels offering stays (ex. Airbnb, VRBO etc. ). Playa Del Carmen falls into the Riviera Maya category. The occupancy rate for the Playa Del Carmen/Riviera Maya is at 79.9%. As anyone who has looked for short term rentals will know, prices are up and demand has grown a lot for non-hotel rentals.

All of these numbers point to a decent high season and continued good star to the year with both less restrictions and health in the area.