US economy – and seaweed – slow tourist flow to Mexico’s Caribbean resort town

(CNN) — Armed with shovels and wheelbarrows, municipal workers from Tulum, Mexico , were deployed to the resort town’s famed beaches in June, tasked with removing large quantities of sargassum that had piled up to cover the crystal-clear waters.

By that point in the year, authorities said they had collected 1,900 tons of the pesky seaweed , more than the 1,300 tons collected in all of 2024.

Local officials and hotel owners have told CNN that the amount of sargassum this year is the largest they’ve seen since 2018 – an issue that has contributed to a lower flow of visitors this year.

But the seaweed isn’t the only problem facing Tulum, a town in Yucatán Peninsula renowned for its idyllic coastlines and archaeological wonders. Other factors, such as the shaky US economy, local insecu