Special report from Tianguis 2010
Story and photos by Bob Schulman
Acapulco – Future visitors to Mexico will be able to experience a wider range of the country's historical and cultural attractions under new programs announced by Mexico's recently appointed tourism minister, Gloria Guevara.
Speaking at the 35th annual Tianguis travel trade fair, Guevara noted that Mexico has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any country in Latin America. She said her ministry plans to create 10 new cultural, historical and gastronomical itineraries aimed at taking better advantage of Mexico's “incredible and unequaled beauty.”
With the country well on its way to recovery from last year's global economic downturn coupled with a flu epidemic that hit Mexico particularly hard, a number of major construction projects have been given the green light to help boost tourism. One will create a $5.5 billion mega-resort along the beaches of the northeast Mexican state of Tamaulipas on the Gulf of Mexico. Called La Pesca, the resort will ultimately feature close to 7,000 hotel rooms and 11,500 condos served by a new airport and upgraded highways.
Meanwhile, good progress is reportedly being made on a new highway that will replace a rugged, 145-mile road between the Pacific beaches of Mazatlan and the inland city of Durango. When completed in 2012, the Mazatlan-Durango highway – along the way passing through or over 60 tunnels and bridges -- will become the westernmost segment of a coast-to-coast highway spanning Mexico from Matamoros across the border from Brownsville, Texas. The present road between Mazatlan and Durango is now known as “the Devil's Backbone.”
Also moving along is construction of an elevated bridge between San Jose del Cabo at the tip of the Baja Peninsula and the new Puerto Los Cabos resort a few miles up the coast. According to Ella Messerli, general manager of the Marquis Los Cabos, when the bridge is completed in the near future it will link the existing 20-mile-long Los Cabos resort area to a riviera-type development anchored by Puerto Los Cabos and running up the 100-mile-long coast to La Paz.
In other announcements during the four-day Tianguis conference, officials of the Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo Convention & Visitors Bureau reported the resort's popular “Unlimited Fun” promotion of beach games, shows, concerts, parades and the like – all free -- will be expanded with an “Unlimited Cuisine” feature. Highlights will include creation of a Culinary Institute offering classes on Mexican cooking by celebrity chefs, food shopping tours, tequila tasting and restaurant events.
Elsewhere on the Pacific, Acapulco is enjoying an upturn in luxury tourism with the recent opening of a number of new hotels and resorts such as the $20 million Hotel Encanto (featuring private pools in 22 of its 44 high-end rooms). Other new or restored properties include the all-villa Banyan Tree Cabo Marques and the recently opened Hotel Boca Chica, the latter offering 36 rooms restored “to the glamor of the 1950s.”
Further down the Pacific coast at Huatulco the tourism spotlight is on a major archaeological site being opened to the public. Promoted as a “must see” attraction, the 2,600-year-old Bocana del Rio Copalita site includes two pyramids, a ball court, a plaza and various ceremonial monuments among other buildings. It's believed 10,000 people once lived in the area.
Puerto Vallarta, which now offers 20,000 hotel rooms – some two-thirds the inventory of Mexico's single largest resort at Cancun – is seeing ongoing upturns in occupancy rates, officials said. Another indicator that business is improving is shown in cruise arrivals on the city's books: 229 ships in 1010 vs. 188 last year.
More information: Check out the Mexico Tourism Board's site at www.visitmexico.com.
