By MELISSA CASTRO

Less than a year after having suffered the devastating landfall of Category 5 Hurricane Otis, Mexico’s coastal resort town of Acapulco is open for business.

The storm’s 270 kilometre per hour winds, battered the seaside municipality, decimating over 80% of the hospitality venues, rendering 63% of real estate as unusable, and dealing a catastrophic blow to local infrastructure.

According to satellite images from the European Union’s Copernicus program, Otis left 1,157 kilometers of destroyed roads, 98 kilometers of ruined telephone and electricity lines, and 494 hectares of airport damage.

The most important fallout from the storm however has been on the approximately 580,000 residents of the Guerrero municipality, who depend on the tourism sector to generate up to 87% their income, either directly or indirectly.

A speedy recovery and bounce-back seemed to be a pipe dream, but the city has indeed bounced back, with hotel room recovery rates floating at 60%. The current buffet of room options spans 221 hotel properties with close to 10,800 rooms available.

A mammoth effort has been made to clean up the strewn debris from the 50 kilometres of beaches that make up the coastline.

The municipality government has tried to turn the damage caused by Otis into a golden opportunity choosing to opt for renewable energy, implementing new strategies to reduce ocean pollution, and rebuilding with hurricane-safe materials.

Outside of the opportunity to soak up vitamin D and catch the waves, cultural events and venues have bounced back with Luis Miguel slated to perform on Sunday, Nov. 17, and museums such as the Fuerte de San Diego open to visitors. The famous La Quebrada cliff divers took only a short break after Otis, and have been continuing their death-defying performances since last year.

It’s no longer the Acapulco of John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, and John Wayne, truth-be-told it hadn’t been in the years leading up to Otis, but Acapulco is open for business and hoping you’ll visit.