By Gerardo Tena

MEXICO CITY – Hit hard by the swine-flu outbreak, hotels on Mexico’s Caribbean coast have begun coming up with imaginative ideas for attracting foreign visitors, including an offer of three years of free holidays for anyone who contracts the AH1N1 virus while vacationing.

After the outbreak was confirmed on April 23, several countries canceled their flights to Mexico – where 60 people have died and another 2,386 have been infected with the virus. Many foreign tourists immediately began leaving the country while others with reservations scrapped their travel plans.

The worst of the health crisis appears to have passed for the time being after federal authorities decreed the re-opening of schools and the resumption of normal activities after a days-long shutdown.

Due to the sharp drop in tourism arrivals, eight hotels in Cancun and the Riviera Maya, the country’s top destination for foreign tourists, announced they will fully refund travelers’ vacation expenses if they show that they contracted the new virus as a result of their stay in the Mexican Caribbean.

“In the event there’s proof that a tourist became infected here on his or her vacation, if (the individual) sends us a blood test that confirms that it was the AH1N1 virus and that the infection manifested itself up to 14 days after his or her departure, (that person) will have free vacations for three years with a travel companion,” hotelier Fernando Garcia Zalvidea told Efe.

He said the goal of the campaign is to recover hotel occupancy levels, which have fallen 20 percent since the flu scare.

Garcia Zalvidea said that as of Tuesday consortiums accounting for more than 5,000 guestrooms – including some four- and five-star hotels – have signed on to the money-back promotion.

He said all the hotel groups participating in the campaign are carrying out thorough disinfection efforts at their establishments, including walls, doors, handrails, desks and guestrooms.

According to Garcia Zalvidea, visitors who arrive now will enjoy a number of privileges, including big discounts and entertainment packages.

“There’s never been a better opportunity than now to enjoy a tourist destination in Mexico; rates are available that are 50 percent of the real cost,” he said.

Reinforcing that effort, federal Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said Wednesday that some of Mexico’s most popular coastal resorts do not have a single confirmed case of the AH1N1 virus.

As examples, he cited the Pacific locations of Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Zihuatanejo and Los Cabos, as well as the Caribbean island of Cozumel, Mexico’s leading port of call for cruise ships.

The minister said that the country’s tourist destinations are safe and that people can return to Mexico’s beaches “with complete peace of mind.”

He acknowledged that there have been confirmed cases of the virus at other beach destinations, but said that “in many of them the cases already date back two weeks.”

Seven cases have been confirmed in Cancun and eight in Acapulco since the outbreak began, although in each instance the last person infected first showed symptoms on April 28.

Even so, continuing flu-related restrictions forced the postponement of the 5th annual Acapulco International Film Festival.

“We were faced with an extraordinary situation resulting from the health situation that affected all Mexicans. In the state of Guerrero, and particularly Acapulco, restrictions remain in place that still affect the holding of activities in closed spaces or with large crowds,” the organizers of the event said.

Mexican officials estimate that the country will take in $9.36 billion in tourism revenue this year, 30 percent less than last year’s record figure of $13.29 billion.