With 12 additional beaches receiving Blue Flag certifications this 2024-2025 season, Mexico will have the largest number of Blue Flag beaches in the Americas — and rank 10th worldwide.
According to Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco Marqués, as of July 1, Mexico will have 78 beaches, 40 sustainable tourism boats and two marinas awarded the Blue Flag distinction.
With over 15,000 kilometers of coastline, Torruco stated that “Mexico’s beautiful beaches” continue to be one of the country’s main draws for tourism from around the world. “This is why we must care for and preserve them, always under a responsible and sustainable vision,” he added.
The international Blue Flag program promotes sustainable development in freshwater and marine areas by incentivizing local authorities and beach operators to achieve high standards in the four criteria required by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE): water quality, environmental education, environmental management and safety.
Torruco said that his office continues to promote the Blue Flag program as it helps to raise awareness among tourists and residents about the relevance of ecosystems, particularly coastal ones. It also helps fulfill the current administration’s goal to position Mexico as a “green destination,” he said.
Torruco also recognized the outstanding work of the FEE’s branch in Mexico, which has ensured compliance with the established standards to maintain excellent beaches, marinas and boats.
The Blue Flag award is earned on a yearly basis, meaning that if a Blue Flag beach does not maintain the required criteria, it can lose its flag.
For the full list of Mexico’s Blue Flag beaches in 2024, see Blue Flag México’s press release here.
Mexico News Daily
How is it possible that Mexico‘s best beaches can still receive Blue Flag status when former villages have ballooned to cities, but still don’t have sewage treatment. Correct me if I‘m wrong, but as far as I know, no major Mexican beach resort has any waste water treatment facilities and raw sewage ends up in the surrounding sea, contributing to pollution and explosive algae and seaweed growth on both the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico‘s Pacific coast.
I don’t know about other beaches but the town of Puerto Aventuras on the Riviera Maya does have a sewage treatment system.
I like to joke that if you want to know about Mexico’s beaches ask a Canadian. For some reason they like beach towns.
Anyway, Lo de Marcos a nice quiet beach. Good to see it there.
“stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria” [from the Blue Flag website]
Stringent criteria is not a phrase I would ever use to describe anything in Mexico. If you told me they had 7, I’d believe it, but 78?
Although a beach can be a tiny plot of coastal land 100 m wide, and there are thousands of those in Mexico. Zihuatanejo has 7 of these flags, for example. So I guess 78 isn’t that high. Many of the blue flag beaches are maintained by resorts in Cancun, Puerta Vallarta, etc.
One of the “beaches” is a volcanic crater: Laguna de Santa María del Oro. But note, only one: there are no cenotes on the list. Locals I spoke to in Yucatan wouldn’t go in most of the cenotes. Not all, but most, due to contamination.