Tulum Hotel Development Advancing, Increasing Available Rooms

Image: Hotel development in Tulum is advancing. In the next three years will open 20 more hotels. (Eric Lindberg)
Image: Hotel development in Tulum is advancing. In the next three years will open 20 more hotels. (Eric Lindberg)
by Juan Antonio (Oso) Oseguera
Last updated: 4:33 PM ET, Tue February 21, 2023

Tulum is expected to remain above 85% until May and will have more rooms in the next three years.

With occupancy above 85%, Tulum hotels have hired more staff and project that tourist arrivals will be maintained at least until May, as has been the behavior in previous years.

"Staff hiring continues. Fortunately, occupancy has remained above 85%, which means that the Riviera Maya continues to be a major part of national and international tourists," said Claudio Cortes Mendez, commissioner of the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Farmers (CROC).

The good occupancy also extends to weekends. On the weekend of the promulgation of the Constitution, February 5, it increased by 10%.

"Normally, from December to May, occupancy never drops below 80 or 85 percent, which means that thanks to the reservations that have been made months in advance, the workforce of each of the hotels is guaranteed," said Cortes.

Hotel development in Tulum is advancing. Recently, a Spanish asset management company based in Madrid announced the signing of a joint venture with an asset management company to develop a mega hotel complex in the Mexican Caribbean.

Asset Management Spain Gestmadrid has joined forces with Apex Capital to build 20 hotels in Tulum, with construction to begin shortly. Specifically, Apex Capital will provide the funds to construct 20 hotels of between 50 and 500 rooms in Tulum.

Apex Capital will provide the funds to construct the hotels. At the same time, Asset Management Spain Gestmadrid will assume the project management, engineering, and marketing and will provide all the resources of the Legal Department.

The construction company in charge of the projects to build these accommodations on the Mexican coast will be PAK'TE, part of the Apex Capital group.

The works, expected to last five years, will begin in three months, and the establishments - managed by international hotel chains already positioned in the Caribbean - will be opened as they are completed until the 20 openings are completed.

For the development of these projects, the company has a one-million-square-meter hotel plot located in a strategic enclave, very close to other projects already underway, such as Four Seasons, JW Marriot, and Azulik, and to the Papaya Playa Project, one of the most famous beach clubs in the area.

"For us, it is an international leap we have been preparing for some time. It is a unique opportunity to put into practice all our know-how and project management capacity in the tourism sector, as we have been doing in Spain," explained Carlos Romero, CEO of Asset Management Spain Gestmadrid.

Sargassum Removal in Riviera Maya, Mexico
Sargassum in Tulum is a problem that is confronted. (Getty Images / Shaun Taylor)

TULUM AGAINST SARGASSUM

According to several officials and researchers, this year, sargassum will not arrive en masse on the coasts of the Mexican Caribbean. Last year, tens of thousands of tons affected coastal ecosystems and millions of tourists visiting Cancun and the Riviera Maya. After flying over Tulum, President Lopez Obrador said he observed very little sargassum and described it as a success last year's collection carried out by the Secretariat of the Navy, state and municipal authorities, and as a private initiative.

It is unknown if the sites where the seaweed was deposited comply with environmental and sanitary standards. And if, as the authorities have been promising for some time, it is used in various production processes.

The optimism about less sargassum this year is opposed by the University of Florida, which points out that, for example, it will arrive in large quantities to seven beaches in Cancun: del Nino, Las Perlas, Chac Mool, Ballenas, Marlin, Delfines and Coral. This city has been affected by other problems since last December.


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