Manta expects the visit of more than 30,000 tourists on the New Year’s holiday

PORTOVIEJO

Some 30,000 tourists are expected to visit part or all of the 33 sites of interest in Manta during these last days of the year, in a city that despite the restrictions established by the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) at the national level has not diminished the interest of the arrival of visitors.

Isidro Rodríguez, director of the tourism department of the municipality of Manta, pointed out that the level of occupancy of rooms in the hotels in this city fluctuates between 50% and 80%.

“Some tourists have already begun to arrive in the city, they are walking along the boardwalk looking at the decorations that were made for Christmas, the beaches will be open from 05:00 to 18:00, the service sector will be open until 02:00, and of course, applying biosecurity measures to take care of our lives ”, declared Rodríguez, who estimates that these visits would move a little more than 1.5 million dollars in favor of the tourism sector.

The services to which the municipal official refers are the resto bars, the figure adapted by owners of bars and discos that will be enabled to serve the public until 02:00. Public and private events or dinners are suspended in Manta.

More than two million dollars left tourists in Manta during the October 9 holiday

In Portoviejo there is flexibility to give way to discos, bars and other places of entertainment, and even with controlled capacity. This canton and Santa Ana were the only ones of the 22 cantons of Manabí whose COE determined to give way to events, but with controls on capacity, biosecurity measures and even a requirement to present a vaccination card to clients.

The police will allocate some 3,000 gendarmes deployed on roads, centers with a greater public presence such as banks, supermarkets and even in support of rehabilitation centers in Manabí.

Rodny Chávez, Manabí sub-zone commander number 13, indicated that the surveillance service will have the logistical support of 264 vehicles, 374 motorcycles, an ambulance and a helicopter.

“The recommendations are to continue with biosecurity measures that the national COE has implemented, avoid crowds of people, and order homes if they are going to leave”; Chávez pointed out. (I)