by Alexander Manda

    MEXICO CITY, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Mexico City's tourism sector could return to normal between four and six months from now, after a collapse in the sector caused by the new A/H1N1 flu virus, the city's tourism chief said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday.

    Tourism in the city lost 180 million U.S. dollars due to the April 24 to May 7 breakout of the epidemic, when the city closed crowded buildings and compounds, such as schools, nightclubs, gymnasiums, theaters and swimming pools.

    Alejandro Rojas Diaz-Duran, Mexico City government's tourism chief said:" We hope that within six months Mexico City will shine worldwide once again." This estimate was based on the experiences of Hong Kong after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), New York after the Sept. 11 attacks and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

    "In some ways the emergency has made the city stronger. Residents have now taken on board that they live in a major tourist destination. They have shown their great identification and pride in the city. The tourism sector has followed the same path and there has been a lot of creativity targeted at reactivating the sector," he said.

    According to him, two-thirds of Mexico City's economy is somehow linked to tourism, which generates a million jobs and around 4 billion U.S. dollars a year, equivalent to some 8 percent of the capital's gross domestic product.

    The recovery of Mexico City's tourism is important as it will lead the industry across the nation to recover, said the city's tourism chief. Currently Mexico's tourism occupancy rates only stand at around 12 percent, far less than the normal rate of 65 percent at this time of the year.

    In the crisis, city officials have shifted focus from infrastructure to image, "to make clear that the city is not sick any more," said Diaz-Duran.

    On June 7, Mexico City will host a meeting of mayors from the Spanish peninsula and Latin America, with a supportive plan to be submitted on the meeting, the tourism chief said.

    Separately, Mexico's health ministry raised the confirmed deaths to 75 from the new influenza A/H1N1 in a Wednesday statement, while raising the confirmed cases to 3,892.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu