That success is largely attributed to the Government of Mexico’s commitment,
long-term view, strong leadership and decision-making over the past 35
years.
In the early 1970s the Central Bank of Mexico was faced with the challenge of
how to populate certain regions of Mexico, redistribute the country’s wealth
and, at the same time, bring in badly needed foreign investment to finance its
development. The bank decided to bet on tourism – an industry that at the time
was not well measured or understood, but had shown substantial economic and
social benefits in some of Mexico’s emerging destinations such as Acapulco and
Mazatlan.
This led to the creation of several ‘think tank’
institutions and other bodies that focused on financing and developing Mexico’s
tourism sector. It was then decided that these functions should all be placed
under the single umbrella of the National Fund for the Development of Tourism
(Fonatur).
Mexico has always been well placed to benefit from tourism with its rich
history, abundant natural attractions, temperate climate and unique cultural
heritage. The country currently ranks 11th in the world in terms of visitor
arrivals.Fonatur’s first mandate was to acquire, through expropriation, land
reserves in the Mexican Caribbean and Pacific, giving birth to Cancún and
Ixtapa. It subsequently built new developments including Huatulco, Los Cabos,
Loreto and Litibu.
The strategy was simple in theory: to acquire the land and finance the
development, with the help of international agencies, such as the World Bank and
the Inter-American Development Bank, and create a world-class master plan, build
the infrastructure, invite the private sector to build hotels that would create
critical mass and traffic – and then promote, promote, promote.
After only 35 years, in spite of many ‘bumps on the road’, the exercise has
proven to be positive. Cancún now has 35,000 rooms and hosts almost 3 million
tourists a year. Furthermore, as a result of Cancún’s success, new resorts such
as Riviera Maya, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres in the Quintana Roo region have become
part of the world tourism map with a total room count of 70,000 and 6 million
tourists each year. Quintana Roo was once so scarcely populated that it did not
justify statehood but it now represents one of the highest gross domestic
products (GDP) per capita in Mexico. The region also has one of the highest
levels of schooling and the largest inflow of interstate migrants who would
otherwise have to look for opportunities outside Mexico, mainly in the United
States.
When Fonatur created these integrally planned resorts, it
set a series of guidelines in order to accomplish its goal to develop tourism as
a major contributor to Mexico’s GDP. Among them was a stringent ‘no speculation’
rule, which essentially meant that they would sell land at very affordable
prices, but buyers were committed to build within a specified period of time.
Another key policy was the promotion of hotels with international brands that
would attract national and international visitors, putting ‘heads on beds’ that
would create critical mass and, in turn, fill airplane seats.
Cancún, like many other destinations, has survived the many challenges that
have hurt tourist arrival numbers in recent years including the 9/11 attacks in
New York, swine flu outbreaks, the Chiapas rebellion and the current war on
drugs. Every situation has a different ‘cure’ for recovery but it is important
to act swiftly at both government and private sector levels and communicate what
is being done to correct the situation – and the more spectacular the cure, the
better. For example, after Hurricane Wilma, Mexican authorities replaced 15
kilometres of beach in about five weeks and did an incredible job of
reconstructing hotels and infrastructure. This was communicated to the general
public but also, more importantly, to those responsible for distribution and
encouraging people to travel to destinations again: travel agents, wholesalers,
hotel companies and airlines.
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A number of destinations in Mexico, including Cancún, have
also recovered rapidly due to the large number of ‘captive’ tourists who,
through various forms of vacation ownership such as timeshare, will always come
back to a destination. About 40% of all of the available rooms in Cancún have
been sold in some form of holiday ownership.
Cancún and Riviera Maya are examples of what tourism can do for a region or
country. Almost all local residents are linked in one manner or another to
tourism, whether as the bell boy of a hotel, the disc jockey at a nightclub, the
accountant who audits the hotels or the police officer who keeps young tourists
out of trouble. These same people have also become users of the restaurants,
airplanes, supermarkets and other services that were initially built for
tourists.
Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism acts as the head of the country’s tourism sector
with the mandate to facilitate the political aspects of tourism including the
exchange between states and countries, the promotion and simplification of
regulation to encourage tourism growth and stability. The ministry also oversees
Fonatur and the recently created Mexico Tourism Promotion Board whose goal is to
put the Mexico brand including its tourist destinations on the world map. The
tourism board is also responsible for domestic tourism promotion to Mexico’s
more than 100 million inhabitants.
The success stories are not limited to hot spots like Cancún. Many other
towns and villages throughout Mexico have turned to tourism as a means to
development and poverty alleviation. Some of the best examples are located in
Mexico’s poorer states such as Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero. In these regions,
most of the tourism businesses are cooperatives or family-owned enterprises that
are embracing the principles of sustainable tourism through respect for the
environment, local culture and heritage.