Considering how the tourist industry is hurting in Mexico, nothing surprises me. There are plenty of people who used to go to Mexico on a regular basis (I was one of them) who wouldn't go now if we won a free trip. Mexico (and that includes the resorts) isn't what it used to be. People will say the resorts are "safer" than the rest of Mexico and they are. But "safer" isn't safe and you still have to get to and from the airport in one piece. It wasn't that long ago that a fair number of bodies were found in a cenote (maybe more than one cenote) just outside Cancun. Yes, the odds are against something happening in a resort area, but if something bad happens, recent events have shown us NOTHING will be done about it and the best you can expect is a shrug of the shoulders from Mexican law enforcement. I'd like to be able to believe that when I visit a country, law enforcement/the government is in control and not the drug cartels. But make no mistake about who runs things these days south of the border.
That explains the cheap trip. I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but that's just reality. They're pulling out all the stops to get the tourists to come. I don't deny it's beautiful, because it is. But there are safer places to go that are just as gorgeous.
