Fewer Mexican nationals shop for Holy Week

McALLEN — It's just another often told symptom of a relentless recession, but on Holy Week it somehow seems just a little worse.

Of course the coveted Mexican national shopper crowded local hotels and inflated sales at local retailers, but economic woes kept some of the heralded patrons on the other side of the border.

International bridge traffic was down from previous years. Hotel rooms were easy to find and 10th Street traffic in McAllen seemed a tad too light for the Rio Grande Valley's busy shopping week.

Still the Mexican nationals shopped and crowded the Valley's highways.

At the Fiesta Inn at 501 S. 10th St. in McAllen, room bookings were down close to 50 percent from last year, said Mary Gonzalez, a front desk clerk.

"It's the peso and the economy, but mostly the peso," Gonzalez said. "How are we going to survive this year? It's awful."

Chain hotels in the McAllen area seemed to fare better, with many reporting no vacancy. Still, it took only a few minutes to find an open room for less than $100 a night.

Turmoil in the financial markets has sent the Mexican peso falling against the U.S. dollar. This week, however, the peso had its strongest close against the dollar this year, rebounding to trade at 13.4555 to the dollar from a low of 15.6 in March.

The value is still far down from last year, when the peso traded close to 9 to the dollar.

Coupled with the general recessionary pressures on pocketbooks, fewer shoppers have crossed in recent months.

The Easter week shopping spree is a unique advantage for border-area retailers. The area's economic resilience, in the midst of the recession, is to some degree a result of the cross-border shopper.

Jesse Medina, director of the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, said traffic is down 8 percent from last year. But at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, where there is little commercial traffic, the number of vehicles crossing fell by more than 60,000 from last year's levels.

"It's a combination of a bunch of things - security, the economy, the cost of transportation, plus the waiting in lines," Medina said. "All that figures into people's decision to come or not."

At South Padre Island, the week started slow but many hotels were starting to fill up with last-minute arrivals Friday, said Jorge Saenz, the organizer of the Yuju! Music Festival.

Ticket sales for the all-day Latin music fest at Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark on Saturday have been better than expected and Saenz said he was optimistic the last-minute arrivals would help prop up same-day sales.

It's the first year for the festival, which hosts a smattering of popular Spanish-language rock acts such as Moderatto and Zoe. Saenz hopes to make it an annual event if the sales are solid enough.

"Hopefully, we'll be successful in terms of getting support from the city next year," he said. "We see it as an option to attract tourism to South Padre."

____

Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.