Weather service forecasts severe storms in six states

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June 19, 2018

Flooding yesterday in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo.

A trough of low pressure extending over the northeast of Mexico and tropical waves in the west and south of the country will bring severe storms to six states today, according to the National Meteorological Service (SNM).

Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Guanajuato and Chiapas are forecast to be affected by the severe storm activity while a further 12 states are predicted to be in the path of strong storms.

They are Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, México state, Mexico City and Morelos.

Heavy rainfall is also forecast in parts of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Colima, Campeche and Quintana Roo while isolated showers are predicted for Tabasco and Yucatán.

Tropical wave No. 4 already delivered heavy rain to Quintana Roo yesterday with more than 225 millimeters falling in the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

The municipalities of Bacalar in the south of the state and Lázaro Cárdenas in the north also received heavy rainfall, leading state authorities and the navy to intensify their relief efforts in all three municipalities.

The Mayan community of Chumpón, located in Felipe Carrillo Puerto about 50 kilometers southwest of Tulum, was left without electricity and the residents of 300 homes were forced to evacuate due to flood waters that rose as high as three meters.

In Bacalar, where floodwaters reached depths of 1.2 meters, 400 homes were inundated and residents were also forced to evacuate and take refuge in shelters. Flooding also affected homes and roads in Lázaro Cárdenas.

In Michoacán, heavy rain and strong winds brought by Tropical Storm Carlotta caused flooding and toppled trees in the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas and the surrounding municipality.

Carlotta also generated heavy rainfall in Guerrero and Oaxaca over the weekend but the storm weakened into a remnant low off the southwest Pacific coast last night although forecasters said it could still deliver rain that causes more flooding on shore.

Flooded highway between Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Tulum.

In Zacatecas, the state’s Civil Protection director said a variety of weather systems had delivered rain that caused flooding due to rivers and reservoirs overflowing their banks in the municipalities of Villa González Ortega, Río Grande and Pánfilo Natera.

In the municipalities of Tepoztlán and Tlayacapan in Morelos, authorities are alert to the possibility of rocks falling from mountain ridges that were destabilized by last September’s earthquake. Recent rains have softened the earth and made rocks more susceptible to detachment, a state Civil Protection official said.

Authorities in Hidalgo are also monitoring mountainous areas of the state due to the risk of landslides. The state’s Civil Protection director said there are hazards in 22 of Hidalgo’s 84 municipalities.

Although rain is expected in much of the country today, the SNM also predicts temperatures between 40 and 45 C in parts of Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Michoacán, Chihuahua and Coahuila.

Temperatures ranging between 35 and 40 C are predicted for parts of several other states including Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Jalisco and Oaxaca.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Students’ wastewater purification system also generates electricity

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MND Staff

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June 18, 2018

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Three engineering students from Monterrey, Nuevo León, will head to the United Kingdom next month to further develop their water purification system, a project for which they won a prestigious international social entrepreneurship prize.

Joel Garzafox, Rodrigo Chinchilla and Jaime García, who are in their final semester of a chemical engineering degree at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, made a prototype of a system that not only purifies wastewater but also generates electricity during the process.

Their invention, which they called “Harvest,” was awarded the national edition of the Hult Prize, an annual competition established in 2010 by Swedish businessman Bertil Hult to reward innovative projects related to food security, water access, energy and education.

Along with a US $50,000 prize to dedicate towards the advancement of their project, the three young men were invited to participate in a business accelerator program at the Hult International Business School in the British capital.

On July 21 they will join the members of other 39 winning teams from around the world to continue working on their purification system and compete to become one of six teams that will enter the global Hult Prize final at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The winning team will receive US $1 million in seed capital to help launch its social enterprise project.

While the original idea for “Harvest” was born out of the research the students completed as part of their degree, the work of Indian biotechnology researcher Rashmi Chandra was vital for its development.

Chandra, who is conducting research at Tec. de Monterrey as a visiting professor, became the students’ mentor and allowed the students to base their work on technology she developed as part of her postdoctoral thesis.

“We’ve had a lot of support from our mentor, from the people at Tec. de Monterrey and from family, friends and professors,” García told the newspaper El Financiero.

“If you see that people believe in your project . . . and if little by little you see results, that’s something valuable,” he added.

The “Harvest” purification system works by passing water through three filtration tanks that are aided by sub-aquatic plants that release water-cleaning microorganisms when they come into contact with rays of sunlight.

“Water that was used in the kitchen or the shower or contaminated water from rivers goes into the system and is treated by the first tank. During the process, the water is purified by the plants together with the filters and other materials that work as purifiers,” Garzafox said.

He explained that the final part of the purification process is carried out using filters made out of charcoal, clay or gravel, adding that while “the process is happening, enough electricity is generated to light up a room.”

García said that they have experimented with seaweed but “any sub-aquatic plant works,” although the team has specifically studied aquatic monocots and determined that they have an energy-producing capacity that could have a positive “impact on people’s lives in marginalized areas.”

With the US $50,000 they received from winning the Mexican prize, the three students plan to build a more advanced version of their prototype that provides more compelling evidence that their system is functional.

The students estimate that their system will initially sell for between US $120 and US $150 but expect that as their business grows, they will be able to reduce the price. They also hope to collaborate with microfinance companies to make their product more accessible.

While in London, Garzafox, Chinchilla and García plan to fine-tune their business model and if everything goes to plan, their “Harvest” system is expected to hit the market at the end of 2019.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

AMLO says new airport might go ahead but people will decide

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MND Staff

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June 18, 2018

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López Obrador: relaxes stand on new airport.

Leading presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador yesterday left open the possibility that the new Mexico City airport project might carry on but said it would ultimately be up to the people to decide its fate.

Speaking at a rally in Texcoco, México state — the municipality where the new airport is being built — López Obrador said that by September at the latest he will conduct a public consultation in which citizens will be presented with three different proposals: two that will see the project continue and one that will scrap it.

The frontrunner in the July 1 election, who said Friday that it will take a miracle to stop him from winning, has previously pledged to cancel the new airport, charging that it is corrupt, too expensive and not needed.

Confronted with chants of “yes to land, no to planes,” the candidate known widely by his initials AMLO said that “everything has to be considered, thought over very carefully [and] analyzed” before a final decision is made.

“We’re talking about the national interest, they’re not personal interests or group interests. If there is already investment in the airport . . . we have to see what’s going to be done with that investment. That’s why I don’t rule out that the project will continue,” he said.

When that statement was met with booing and hissing from some of his supporters, López Obrador sought to placate them by saying, “calm down, in the end you’re going to decide, just let me give you the options.”

One of the three alternatives AMLO floated is for the project to continue as a public-private joint venture, although the Morena party candidate said that option depended on how much money the government has already invested and how much more it will need to contribute.

“. . . I need to have all the information,” he told reporters, adding “that will involve reviewing the project and seeing how much the total cost will be.” The projected cost is US $13 billion.

According to López Obrador, the government has already contributed 40 billion pesos (US $1.95 billion) and set aside another 40 billion pesos that is sitting in an airport trust.

The second option would see the project survive but as a private-sector concession, which López Obrador said he favored over the first option.

“I hope the government doesn’t [have to] invest, that it can be a concession to private Mexican companies. In other words, that a tendering process is held so that a concession is awarded to a consortium of national companies that are already working [on the project],” he said.

According to Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim — whose companies have an 8% stake in the new airport, the whole project should have been contracted out to the private sector from the beginning.

Speaking out in its defense in April, Slim warned that suspending the project would halt economic growth and said López Obrador — and other presidential candidates — had “no reason to interfere.”

He also charged that it is inevitable that a public infrastructure project will take longer and cost more than a private one.

The third option that López Obrador said he will present to the citizens of Mexico would involve scrapping the project and using the land for real estate development, including the construction of buildings to house government offices.

In that scenario, pressure on Mexico City’s overburdened Benito Juárez airport would be relieved by building two new runways at the existing Santa Lucía air force base in México state.

However, some aviation experts have warned that the plan is not feasible due to its proximity to the existing airport.

To address all the pros and cons, López Obrador said, there will be a comprehensive debate before his proposed public consultation, which could take the form of a referendum conducted by the National Electoral Institute (INE).

The Together We Will Make History coalition candidate also told supporters that he has asked to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto on July 3 to discuss the project, explaining that he didn’t request the meeting for the first day after the election because he won’t have slept the night before.

“We could resolve [the airport issue] in two months, July and August, and in September we’ll conduct the consultation . . . because it can’t wait any longer,” López Obrador said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Macaw reintroduction program sees 27 birds released in Veracruz

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César Hernández

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June 18, 2018

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Scarlet macaws: more have been released in Veracruz.

Almost 30 scarlet macaws have been released in the Tuxtlas region of Veracruz as part of a long-term program designed to reintroduce the species to what once was its natural habitat.

The macaws disappeared from the rainforests of the region 40 years ago, but the collaboration between a theme park, the largest university in Mexico, non-governmental organizations and local farmers and communal landowners, a dwindling macaw population started to grow five years ago.

Twenty-seven of the birds were released last weekend at the Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, near the town of Dos Amates.

The researcher in charge of the project explained that the birds traveled to the municipality of Catemaco after being bred in captivity with the aid of specialists at the Xcaret park in Quintana Roo.

Patricia Escalante Pliego, of the Institute of Biology at the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM), added that the birds are donated by Xcaret, and that the project expects to release a total of 500 macaws.

She said that 80% of all the parrots released since the program started in 2013 have readapted successfully to the Los Tuxtlas environs. Those that did not make it were either eaten by predators or couldn’t survive harsh weather conditions. She added that four of the birds were poached by humans.

Escalante told the newspaper Milenio that the initiative to reintroduce the bird species is costly for the organizations involved, which spend over 1 million pesos (close to US $49,000) per year on bird feed and creating nests and other spaces where the macaws start learning to live, and hopefully reproduce, in a natural environment.

She would like to see state and federal governments chip in and collaborate with the initiative’s efforts. Another wish is that residents of Catemaco stop killing the endangered birds and cutting down the trees in which they nest.

Source: Milenio (sp)

More tourism infrastructure coming to Riviera Nayarit

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César Hernández

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June 18, 2018

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The Kyrstal Grand Nuevo Vallarta opened last year.

After a successful 2017 the Riviera Nayarit region is looking forward to further growth.

Riviera Nayarit is a 300-kilometer or so stretch of coastline in Nayarit state between the historic port of San Blas and the Banderas Bay in Nuevo Vallarta, adjacent to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.

Tourism generated nearly US $200 million last year for the region, a 300-kilometer stretch of coast in the state of Nayarit. Hotel occupancy rates remained above 80%, while high-end properties saw levels of more than 90% on average, reported the travel website Travel Pulse.

“Riviera Nayarit is a destination like no other,” said Marc Murphy, managing director of Riviera Nayarit Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Our versatility and distinct appeal have translated into recent success for our pristine destination, from resort town Nuevo Vallarta to the historic village of San Blas, celebrity haven Punta de Mita, surfing mecca Sayulita, and everything in between.”

Several new properties opened in 2017, including the 480-room Krystal Grand Nuevo Vallarta, home to the largest convention center in the city.

Also last year, Grupo Autofin Monterrey inaugurated the Grand Sirenis Matlali Hills Resort & Spa, and Marival Group expanded its offerings with the opening of MozzaMare Casual Beach Gourmet, created for guests of Marival Residences Luxury Resorts.

Tourist infrastructure will continue to grow during the remaining half of 2018 with the opening of the region’s first Fairmont property at the Costa Canuva development, which will be home to five new hotels and more than 7,000 guest rooms.

Other projects under way is a Cirque du Soleil theme park that will offer evening shows for as many as 5,000 spectators. The Rosewood Mandarina is also scheduled to open next year, with 130 guest rooms, suites and villas.

The Grand Sirenis Matlali is expected to open the second stage of its development and Iberostar is on track to open a property in Litibu.

There are two developments in Punta de Mita readying for a 2019 debut: the Auberge Resort Collection’s Susurros del Corazon and Conrad Hotels & Resorts’ redesign of the former La Tranquila Resort, Conrad Playa Mita.

Finally, One&Only Mandarina will debut both its residences, One&Only Mandarina Private Homes, and the One&Only Mandarina Resort.

AMResorts recently announced plans for two resorts: Dreams Punta de Mita Resort and Spa and Secrets Punta de Mita Resort and Spa, both scheduled to open in 2020.

Source: TravelPulse (en)

In 9 municipalities, gun-related homicides up more than 100%

By

MND Staff

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June 18, 2018

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homicides with weapon — Tepic topped the list. snsp/milenio

Of Mexico’s 30 most violent municipalities in the first four months of 2018, homicides committed with firearms increased by more than 100% in nine of them, according to statistics from the National Public Security System (SNSP).

Tepic, Nayarit — where there were 59 gun-related homicides between January 1 and the end of April — experienced the largest spike with a 555% increase.

In the same four-month period last year, there were just nine such murders in the state capital.

Violent crime, including clashes between opposing drug cartels, has surged in Nayarit since the arrest of former state attorney general Édgar Veytia in San Diego, California, in March 2017 for alleged links to organized crime.

There was a total of 92 intentional homicides committed with firearms in the small Pacific coast state in the first four months of this year compared to 19 in the same period of 2017.

After Tepic, two municipalities in Guanajuato — Irapuato and Salamanca — recorded the second and third largest increases respectively.

In the former, which is known as Mexico’s strawberry capital, there were 78 homicides committed with firearms to the end of April, or 387% more than the 16 cases reported in 2017.

In Salamanca, where six traffic police were shot dead earlier this month, there were 55 gun-related murders, 358% more than the 12 cases recorded between January 1 and April 30 last year.

More than 1,000 people were murdered in Guanajuato in the first four months of 2018, making the central Mexican state the most violent in the country so far this year.

High levels of violence continued in May with a further 256 homicides in the state, according to a count by the newspaper Milenio.

A high percentage of the cases are believed to be linked to pipeline petroleum theft, with competing gangs of thieves known as huachicoleros fighting each other for control of the lucrative illegal fuel trade.

After 59 people were murdered during a five-day period last month, state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa said that 85% of the homicides were related to “in one way or another” to petroleum theft.

Homicides in the municipality of Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo — which includes the resort city of Cancún — rose by 300% to 88, while San Pedro Tlaquepaque, located in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, recorded the fifth highest increase, with a 272% upsurge.

The other four municipalities where the gun-related homicide rate more than doubled in the four month period are Silao, Guanajuato, by 241%; Reynosa, Tamaulipas, by 200%; Celaya, Guanajuato, by 127% and Guadalajara, Jalisco, by 117%.

The tenth municipality on the list is Tijuana, Baja California, where the number of homicides committed with firearms rose by a less dramatic 73%.

However, of the 15 municipalities that experienced the biggest spikes, the northern border city recorded the highest raw number of homicides from January to April with 510.

The figure is five times higher than the 102 recorded in Guadalajara, which recorded the second highest raw number.

In per-capita terms, SNSP data released last month showed that Tecomán, Colima, was the most dangerous municipality in the country followed by Zihuatanejo, Guerrero and Taxco in the same state.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Former ambassador slams Trump immigration policies

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César Hernández

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June 18, 2018

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The former U.S. ambassador to Mexico has slammed President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, calling them “un-American” and counterproductive.

“Unless the administration can address the reasons why migrants from Mexico and Central America are coming to the U.S., no amount of draconian and frankly, un-American policies, as I believe these are, is really going to make a permanent difference,” Roberta Jacobson told National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition.

Instead, she said, the updated policies “may affect our own standing in the world and certainly in the region.”

The U.S. has come under widespread criticism for separating migrant children from their parents when they are detained at the Mexican border. Nearly 2,000 were separated from their families during a six-week period in April and May.

Jacobson was ambassador from March 30, 2012, to May 5, 2016. During that time, she said, her country’s approval rating in Mexico dropped by more than 30%.

In the end, Jacobson said, “it is very difficult to see how these policies either help the United States or the countries from which the migrants are coming.”

The administration has also changed asylum laws so that people fleeing domestic and gang violence are no longer eligible to apply for asylum.

The policies have been widely criticized by lawmakers, advocacy groups, medical experts and religious leaders.

Source: The Hill (en)

Mexico scores big 1-0 upset over Germany in its first World Cup match

By

MND Staff

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June 18, 2018

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ochoa — Ochoa makes a big save against Germany yesterday.

Mexico caused the biggest upset so far of the 2018 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament by defeating defending champions Germany 1-0 in Moscow yesterday.

In a packed Luzhniki Stadium with an estimated 30,000 Mexicans in attendance, 22-year-old winger Hirving Lozano slotted a low shot past the diving German goalkeeper and into the back of the net in the 35th minute of the match, sending the thousands of Mexican fans present and millions back home into raptures.

In Mexico City, the simultaneous jumping in jubilation of millions watching in their homes, bars, restaurants or the capital’s central square known as the zócalo was so fervent that it caused an “artificial earthquake” just seconds after Mexico took the lead in the Russian capital.

The Institute of Geological and Atmospheric Investigations said that highly sensitive earthquake sensors detected tremors at two sites in Mexico City “possibly because of mass jumping.”

Back in Moscow, chants of “sí se puede,” or yes we can, rang out around the stadium as Mexican fans started to believe that the beloved national team known as El Tri could indeed complete an unlikely victory.

And in the end, they did. But the win didn’t come without several moments when Mexican supporters had their hearts in their mouths.

Just three minutes after Lozano’s impressive goal — set up by a deft pass from Mexico’s most famous football export Javier “Chicharito” Hernández — the Germans came very close to equalizing with a free kick, but Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa managed to get a touch on the ball and push it onto the top bar to save the day.

There were more anxious moments in the second half as Mexico’s goal came under repeated threats from Germany but the determined Mexican side continued to hold off the reigning champions, who hadn’t lost an opening game in a world cup since then-West Germany was beaten by Algeria in 1982.

The victory was a redemption of sorts for the team’s Colombian coach, Juan Carlos Osorio, who has been widely criticized by pundits and a football-loving public for his tactics and management of the national team, but analysts praised Mexico for the pace of their attack.

In an on-field interview after the match, Osorio said that “all the credit” went to the players because “we designed a plan and executed it very well.”

The goal-scorer Lozano said, “I don’t know if it’s the biggest victory in [Mexico’s] history, but it’s one of the biggest for sure.”

Judging by the euphoric celebrations that broke out across the country, the significance of the win to the people of a country where rising levels of violent crime and the upcoming presidential election have dominated the news in recent times cannot be underestimated.

In Mexico City, around 20,000 fans gathered to celebrate the victory at the Angel of Independence monument on the capital’s most famous boulevard, Paseo de la Reforma.

For hours after the referee blew the final whistle, revelers chanted passionately, belted out the famous song Cielito Lindo, danced in the streets, drank beer and tequila and dared to dream that just maybe 2018 could be the year that Mexico goes further than it has ever gone before in a world cup.

“I am incredibly happy,” said one fan who went to the Angel monument with his girlfriend and son as part of a Father’s Day outing. “It’s a double gift: Mexico won and I get to celebrate with my son.”

A 54-year-old housewife who also rushed to join in the festivities told the New York Times that celebrating the win was a cathartic experience.

“This victory matters because it gives us the opportunity to express the joy we all carry inside as Mexicans, which we were unable to release and express due to all the bad news, the politics [and] the natural disasters,” Lucía Colunga said.

“We are here to let out all of that happiness that we have bottled up,” she added.

President Enrique Peña Nieto also celebrated the victory, writing on Twitter: “Confirmed: Mexico competes and wins against the best in the world. Many congratulations to @miseleccionmx! Great game!”

Doña Angela Merkel está muy enojada por la derrota de la selección alemana… jajajajaja. Los memes que genera el ingenio son divertidos…

¡Sobre todo cuando vienen precedidos del triunfo! pic.twitter.com/a3G3TLgwIr

— Eduardo Iracheta L. (@eirachetal) June 17, 2018

Millions more Mexicans lauded El Tri’s performance on social media and shared memes that took a humorous look at the triumph.

One which circulated widely showed a photograph of German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a telephone to her ear accompanied by the text: “Donald? It’s me Angela. Please build the wall.”

Mexico will take on South Korea in its second first-round match in Rostov-On-Don at 10:00am Saturday.

Source: Milenio (sp), Reuters (en), The New York Times (en)

Four years on and it’s time for a change at Mexico News Daily

By

Tony Richards

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June 16, 2018

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Four years on and we’re still plugging away here but having fun, too. In fact, publishing a newspaper — for me — has never been so much fun.

It’s a great job and a great business, particularly if you can show a profit at the end of the year.

Which we are not.

Mexico News Daily was born in June 2014 in the spare bedroom of a house in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. I had a computer, an internet connection and enough knowledge of WordPress to be able to throw together a site (it was, admittedly, a bit of a mess behind the scenes) and launch.

I had read somewhere there were 1 million expats from the United States living in Mexico.

Back in the days when I published a weekly community newspaper, 90% of adults in our community were readers.

So, my thinking went, if I can get 10% of those expats to read a newspaper with Mexican news in English we should do all right; 90% would be fantastic but unlikely.

Well, we attracted rather more than 100,000 readers — we had 400,000 in May — but I was naïve. Those numbers are nothing in digital publishing. They are not enough to generate the advertising revenues we need to be in the black. It was time for a change.

I decided well over a year ago that I would do two things in the next six months: redesign the site and initiate a metered paywall.

In the end it took some 18 months to reach the stage where we are today, and now comes the moment of reckoning: now that we’ve built this thing will they come — and pay to do so?

I say we’ve built this thing but in fact we haven’t finished the building: we need revenue to do that.

There are three of us here at Mexico News Daily and we ought to be at least six. That’s three more writers.

With additional editorial staff we can finally do what I really want: publish original content that will give us desperately needed balance in coverage.

Our email newsletter, Mexico News Today, has long been a reliable bellwether for indicating reader satisfaction. Although subscriber numbers have increased on average by more than 100 a week (to nearly 25,000 now), we have also lost a few — at least 3,000.

Many of those bailed after particularly gruesome, violence-filled issues. We know because many said so when invited to tell us why they were leaving.

Under our current business plan, we curate news from (mostly) Mexican sources. If those newspapers have days where there is little more than cartel murder stories, so do we.

Now it’s time to change that and do what we should be doing: informing our readers with coverage of Mexico news — however bad it might be — but entertaining them too with stories about Mexico. The good stories about the people and the culture that reflect the reasons why so many expats — this one included — live here and love it.

If all goes well, which is not likely considering the near-daily outages of either our phone, internet, electricity or all three, our new subscription service will take effect on Tuesday. Readers will be able to access up to 10 stories in a 30-day period, after which they will be asked to subscribe.

I invite you to stay with us for this next stage. These are interesting times in Mexico and we look forward to covering them, with a new and special emphasis on all the positive stories there are to tell.

—Tony Richards, Editor & Publisher

Click here if you would like to subscribe.

Consultancy identifies emerging tourism destinations

By

MND Staff

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June 16, 2018

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The waterfront walkway in La Paz, BCS. iron roamer

As tourism continues to grow in Mexico, more and more destinations are seeking to attract higher numbers of visitors to compete with established hotspots such as Cancún and Los Cabos and cash in on a lucrative market.

The coastal cities of La Paz and Loreto in Baja California Sur, the Costa Alegre in Jalisco and the Riviera Nayarit are all among the emerging destinations that have experienced strong growth, according to statistics from the federal Tourism Secretariat (Sectur).

Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and Huatulco, Oaxaca, are also seeking to build on their existing tourism markets by attracting new investment in the sector.

“The time [in the sun] has to arrive for coastal areas like La Paz and Loreto, considering the success that Los Cabos already has,” John McCarthy, principal of tourism and real estate consultancy Leisure Partners, told the news website Expansión.

“The Baja California peninsula has a lot more to offer yet,” he added.

In order to develop destinations, McCarthy said, more hotels and entertainment venues are needed.

Visitor numbers to La Paz and Loreto grew by 12% and 26% respectively last year but the number of hotel rooms only increased by 2% in the former city and remained the same in the latter.

McCarthy added that to sustain growth in emerging destinations, tourists need to be drawn from a wider range of source countries as almost 80% of all international tourists to Mexico come from the United States and Canada.

Gustavo Ripol, who along with McCarthy is a founding partner of Leisure Partners, said that four projects in Huatulco will increase the number of hotel rooms in the resort city by 70% over the next few years.

He also said that Mazatlán has managed to reduce the perception of insecurity associated with the city and in turn had managed to increase its visitor numbers.

The city hosted the Tianguis Turístico — Mexico’s largest tourism industry event — in April, while hotel chain Pueblo Bonito and real estate development company Vicasa are planning large-scale developments there.

In Costa Alegre — a series of 43 beaches, capes and bays distributed along the Pacific coast between Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and Manzanillo, Colima — more luxury tourism projects similar to the existing El Careyes resort are planned but tourism industry experts say that more transport infrastructure needs to be built in the region because it currently lacks an airport that is nearby and good highways.

Almost 40 million international visitors came to Mexico last year and spent over US $21 billion in the country.

Mexico is now the sixth most visited country in the world and Tourism Secretary Enrique de la Madrid said in February that annual international tourist numbers could reach 50 million by 2021.

Record visitor numbers continued in the first quarter of 2018, testament to de la Madrid’s statement last week that the upsurge in violent crime has not deterred foreign or domestic tourists from visiting Mexico’s beaches, magical towns and largest cities.

Source: Expansión (sp)