As we reported previously, the combination of unchecked drug violence and the swine flu outbreak has been tough on the Mexican hotel industry. We now have data that shows how bad it’s been.

According to Smith Travel Research, occupancy at Mexican hotels began to fall precipitously at the end of April and into the first few days of May. Occupancy on Sunday, April 26 was 36.1 percent; by Wednesday of that week, it had fallen to 29.5 percent; and by Saturday, May 2, it dipped to 24.4 percent.

For the week, occupancy in Mexico was down 50.7 percent from the same week a year ago.