Environment ministry turns down 3 hotel proposals in Cancún

April 21, 2021

The Environment Ministry insists that services cannot support more hotels.

Three hotel projects in Cancún’s hotel zone have been rejected by the Ministry of Environment.

The hotel chain Palace Resorts planned to build 1,356 rooms with an investment of US $270 million at Punta Nizuc.

According to the company’s application the three projects consist of the construction and operation of three 12-story hotels of 432, 428 and 496 rooms.

The application also highlighted the ecology of the proposed site, a mangrove forest with 22 species of fauna including birds, reptiles and mammals. There are also tortoises habitats in the vicinity, which would likely be affected by the construction.

The National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) warned at the beginning of 2020 that Cancún’s hotel zone could not support any additional hotel rooms. Essential services, like sewage treatment and the provision of drinking water were reportedly at the point of collapse. Despite that, there are 6,000 rooms under construction in the area.

Fonatur director Alejando Varela Arellano said it was opposed to the construction of more hotels in Cancún, such as the Grand Island and the RIU Riviera, which together total 3,530 new rooms, but those projects are going ahead.

“Fonatur is against the over densification … the number of rooms that they [Grand Island and RIU Riviera Cancún] are proposing exceeds the capacity of services that exist,” he said.