Mexico to Reportedly Limit New Hotel Growth in Cancun

The Mexican publication Reportur.mx has indicated that Fonatur (Mexico’s National Tourism Promotion Fund) and the Mexican government are, for the first time, engaging in discussions about limiting hotel growth in the tourism hotspot of Cancun.

Together, through a Master Development Plan and the State Territorial Planning Program, the authorities will reportedly be conducting a feasibility study for approximately 14,000 Quintana Roo hotel rooms that have applied for construction authorization in Cancun, in the state of Quintana Roo, but are still pending.

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Quintana Roo’s Secretary of Tourism, Marisol Vanegas Pérez, explained that these represent a portion of 30,000 projected new rooms in line for construction, which are planned mainly for the northern part of the state.

Of these, 16,000 have already received government approval and an operating license to proceed, with many of them financed by the Mexican Foreign Trade Bank, Bancomext.

The popular, peninsular, Mexican-Caribbean destination—particularly within its main Hotel Zone corridor—is arguably already overburdened in terms of available infrastructure and management of its impact on the environment, argued Fonatur’s General Director, Rogelio Jiménez Pons, according to El Economista.

In Cancun’s case, Jiménez Pons announced that his office will submit a formal letter to the municipality of Benito Juárez, requesting the denial of authorizing for the construction of any new complexes in the Hotel Zone, "for the simple reason that there is no longer the ability to provide these new complexes with basic services in terms of drainage, drinking water and roads."

Abelardo Vara, vice president of the Cancun Hotel Association, reportedly said that many of the new hotel projects planning to build in one of the Hotel Zone’s most fragile areas should not be authorized by any of the levels of government since there is no capacity in the Hotel Zone for the construction of more rooms.

Reporteur.mx also reported that some hoteliers, academics and area authorities are rallying to limit hotel-room construction across the state for fear that Quintana Roo may otherwise end up destroying the beautiful natural resources and pristine sites that constitute its main attraction, especially in bustling resort hotspots like Cancun and Riviera Maya.

During his recent visit to Cancun, federal Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marqués indicated that, while hotel growth must be carefully monitored so as not to affect the area’s natural environment, the agency would support additional hotel investment in the city if investors are able to obtain the necessary authorizations.