Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco

Nickname: P.V.

Location within the state of Jalisco

Jalisco's location within Mexico Coordinates: 20°40?N 105°16?W / 20.667, -105.267

Country Mexico

State Jalisco

Municipality Puerto Vallarta Founded 1851 Government - Mayor Lic. Francisco Javier Bravo Carbajal (PRI)

Area -Municipality 1,300.7 km² (502.19 sq mi)

Elevation 7 m (23 ft)

Population (2005) - Total 177,830 - Municipality 220,368 -

Demonym Vallartense Time zone CST (UTC-6)

Postal code 48300

Area code(s) 322

Website: www.puertovallarta.gob.mx

Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas. The 2005 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 177,830 making it the fifth-largest city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The City of Puerto Vallarta is the government seat of the Municipality of Puerto Vallarta which comprises the city as well as population centers outside of the city extending from Boca de Tomatlán to the Nayarit border (the Ameca River). The municipality's population in the 2005 census was 220,368.

The city is located at 20°40?N, 105°16?W. The municipality has an area of 502.19 square miles (1,300.67 km²). To the North it borders the SW part of the state of Nayarit. To the East it borders the municipality of Mascota and San Sebastián, and to the South it borders the municipalities of Talpa de Allende and Cabo Corriente. Puerto Vallarta is named after Ignacio Vallarta, a former governor of the state of Jalisco. "Puerto Vallarta" is often shortened to "Vallarta." and English (language) speakers call the city P.V. for short. In internet shorthand the city is often referred to as PVR, after the code for its international airport. English speakers sometimes misspell or mispronounce the city's name as "Porto Vallarta".

Climate

Puerto Vallarta has a typical tropical climate, with near constant temperature and humidity year round and with a pronounced wet and dry seasonal variation.

The average daily high temperature is 86 °F (30 °C); average daily low temperature is 70 °F (21 °C); average daily humidity is 75%. The rainy season extends from mid June through Mid October, with most of the rain falling between July and September. August is the city's wettest month with an average of 14 days with significant precipitation. Even during the rainy season precipitation tends to be concentrated in large rainstorms with insignificant precipitation on most days. Occasional tropical storms will bring thunderstorms to the city in November, though the month is typically dry. February, March and April are the months with the least cloud cover.

Prevailing winds are from the SW, and most weather systems approaching Puerto Vallarta are consequently weakened as they pass over Cabo Corrientes. Thus even during the rainy season Puerto Vallarta's weather tends to be mild compared to other areas along the Mexican Pacific coast.

Hurricanes seldom strike Puerto Vallarta. In 2002 Hurrican enna, a category 5 hurricane, made landfall about 100 miles (161 km) NW of Puerto Vallarta, and the city suffered some damage from the resulting storm surge. In 1971 Hurricane Lily, a category 1 hurricane, caused serious flooding on the Isla Cuale, prompting the city to relocate all of its residents to the new Colonia Pa'lo Seco.ties

Geography, geology and ecology

Geographical characteristics
Puerto Vallarta lays on a narrow coastal plain at the foot of the Sierras Cuale and San Sebastián, parts of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The plain widens to the North, reaching its widest point along the Ameca river. Three rivers flow from the Sierra through the area, from South to North, the Cuale, the Pitillal, and the Ameca. A number of arroyos also run from the Sierra to the coastal plain. Many of the valleys of these rivers and arroyos are inhabited. Also development has to some extent spread up the hillsides from the coastal plain.

The city proper comprises four main areas: the hotel zone along the shore to the North, Olas Altas - Col Zapata to the South of the Cuale river (named Zona Romantica recently in some tourist brochures), the Centro along the shore in between these two areas, and a number of residential areas to the East of the hotel zone. The oldest section of the town is the area of Col. Centro near the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, especially Hidalgo street.

Seismic history
Puerto Vallarta, like much of the west coast of North > America, is prone to earthquakes, though Puerto Vallarta tends to experience only peripheral effects of earthquakes centered further south. In 1995 an Earthquake located off the Colima coast shook the crown from the top of the cathedral.

Economy
Nearly 50% of the workforce is employed in tourist related industries: hotels, restaurants, personal services, and transportation. The municipality does however continue to have strong agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors.

Industries
Agriculture is especially important in the Ameca valley to the NE of the city center. Principal crops there include flour corn, sweet corn, dry beans, fresh chile, watermelon and tobacco. Fruit growing operations are more dispersed, with banana farms in the Ameca valley, Mango orchards in the low hills, and avocado farms on some of the higher ground above the city.

There are also significant livestock operations located in the Ameca valley, and of course fishing in the Bay of Banderas is also a significant industry.

Industrial production includes food and beverage production, furniture production, and construction supplies. Thirty years of consistent development have given Puerto Vallarta a very strong construction sector which employs nearly 10% of the Puerto Vallarta workforce.

The commercial sector comprises nearly 17% of the workforce, including shipping, trucking, wholesale and retail operations (though the retail sector is probably understated because of the large underground economy in the sector). Shipping traffic consists of cruise ships, which arrive almost daily, and occasional visits by U.S. Navy frigates. The Mexican Navy maintains a base at the port, as well as a former naval hospital in the city center, which is now a Naval Museum. Puerto Vallarta is not however very active as a commercial port. Most goods arrive in Puerto Vallarta by truck along the Compostela highway from Guadalajara.

Tourism trends
Tourism makes up roughly 50% of all economic activity in Puerto Vallarta according to puertovallarta.net. The high season for international tourism in Puerto Vallarta extends from late November through March (or later depending on the timing of the College Spring Break period in the USA. The city is especially popular with US residents from the West Coast because of the number of convenient flights that exist between Puerto Vallarta and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The air routes between Puerto Vallarta and Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta and San Francisco are by far the most heavily traveled of all air routes into the city.

Vallarta is also a popular destination for Mexican tourists: a popular weekend destination for residents of Guadalajara (tapatíos), and a popular national destination for vacations such as Semana Santa (the week preceding Easter) and Christmas. Also in recent years Acapulco has experienced a rise in drug related violence[5] and Puerto Vallarta has absorbed some of the Mexico City resort vacation business (Acapulco is a very common destination for tourists from Mexico City).

Puerto Vallarta has become a popular retirement destination for US and Canadian retirees. This trend has spawned a condominium development boom in the city.

Also over the past decade, Puerto Vallarta has become a popular gay vacation destination, and consequently the Olas Altas area now boasts about a dozen clubs, several hotels, and numerous specialty shops catering to a gay clientele.

Rapid growth in tourist volume in Puerto Vallarta has given rise to rapid growth in hotel and rental apartment construction. This growth has spilled over from the city limits into Nuevo Vallarta in the neighboring state of Nayarit.