Always Growing - Numbers Don’t Lie, Everybody Loves Cancun
By Judy WaytiukThere’s a sunburned, margarita-guzzling elephant parked on the beach in Cancun: the luridly-painted image of drug cartel crime, violence, and corruption, and the North American consumer media jumps on the story at every opportunity.
But according to a reader survey in the North America-wide trade magazine Recommend, Cancun is the top selling destination in Mexico.
Why the logic disconnect?
Vacationers aren’t buying the blather, partly because there’s so much convenient airlift in regular commercial flight categories and a dizzying plethora of attractively-priced (for just about any pocketbook budget) winter sun charter packages, and partly thanks to well over 30,000 hotel rooms on the 25 kilometre-long, narrow peninsula stretch of sugar sand beach that’s fully-replenished whenever a hurricane come through and messes things up. The most recent giant sandbox renewal, finished off about three years ago, poured on 5.7 billion litres of sand at a cost of $71 million dollars. Most of the rooms lining that magnificent beach on Mexico’s top travel destination are rated five-star, with a handful (nine as of December 2011) possessing a coveted and rare sixth star. All of them boast either ocean or Nichupte Lagoon views, and more than 60 of them are all-inclusives. Five Cancun hotels out of 14 in the whole country, including the Ritz Carlton and the JW Marriott, hold the AAA Five Diamond rating.
And more airlift’s happening all the time. Air Transat recently announced a new winter route from Quebec to Cancun, and Sunwing added four new weekly flights from Montreal. Westjet, the newest charter player, has expanded its Cancun base of packages every year since entering the marketplace.
Credit: Chad McDermott/Shutterstock.com
According to one survey, Cancun is the top selling destination in Mexico.
Going All In
The consumer’s budget dictates any level of luxury wanted, and pretty much all that distinguishes packages one from the other are the number of pools, restaurants/room service, quality of food and service, beaches, kids’ play areas and programs, included tours, and recreational sports gear that come with the package. Competition for the consumer dollars is increasingly fierce among all-inclusives, and high-end European or American plan hotels are now getting into the game.A new Cancun and Riviera Maya Food and Wine Festival in March 2012 will highlight top “name” chefs from around the Americas, and officials expect that new annual event to ramp up competition for quality even more – and to draw increasing numbers of foodies to the area.
Iberostar recently bought the Hilton Cancun, renamed it, sank $100 million into renos, and re-opened in December 20l1. The property has 426 rooms and villas including 16 junior suites, four master suites, two villa beach suites, and a presidential suite, seven infinity pools, a soccer field, two tennis courts, spa, gym and beauty salon, and is the only hotel in Cancun with its own 18-hole golf course.
The Fairmont Mayakoba on the Riviera Maya is fighting back against the all-inclusive invasion with the test-launch of a new all-inclusive meal plan, Appetite for Luxury, in fall 2011. The chain will review results with an eye to continuing the program. Prices were scaled according to age, with a free menu for kids up to five years old.
Splish Splash
Snorkellers can paddle around The Underwater Museum, opened just a couple of years ago, and its 400 sunken sculptures, or try the all-natural version along the reef; best spots are in Puerto Morelos where the reef is very close to shore, and El Garrafon National Park on Isla Mujeres, a quick ferry ride or daytour away.The Cenote Trail formalizes what eager swimmers have been doing for years: exploring some of the massive sinkholes, including the most popular: Cenote Las Mojarras; Cenote Siete Bocas; Cenote Boca Del Puma; and Cenote Verde Lucero. All are natural freshwater swimming spots fed by underground streams. A 133-hectare ecological park, Selvatica, rounds out the trail with jungle ziplines and high rope courses, mountain-biking, explorations of natural caverns, and beachside horseback riding into the surf.
Boat tours out to the tiny fishing village island of Holbox search out whale sharks so tourists can go snorkeling with them, with time on land to check out this up-and-coming little location’s natural side – dolphins, pelicans, turtles, and flamingos – or to hit a beach restaurant for a stunningly-fresh seafood lunch. The rare Domino whale shark population, roaming between the ecologically-protected areas of Contoy Island and Yum Balam, is being studied by scientists with the help of licensed tour operators.
And there are the tried-and-true natural ecoparks of Xcaret and Xelha, El Eden, and Tres Rios, Dolphinaris and Delphinus to swim with dolphins, the Fish Spa that uses Garra Rufa fish (aka Doctor Fish) to exfoliate skin, all sorts of museums like the Museo Sensorial del Tequila opened in 2010, jungle excursions (Kin-Ha is a popular one), and a good sprinkling of Mayan ruins within easy daytrip reach. These just scratch the surface; the variety of activities in this destination far outnumbers those in any other part of the country.
Credit: Patryk Kosmider/Shutterstock.com
Eco parks like Xcaret offer cultural experiences as well as a break from the beach.
The Big Sell
Mexico’s tourism industry is aiming to double Canadian visitations from 1.5 million in 2010 to three million or more over the next three years. (Some 600,000 Canadians took Mexican vacations in 2005.)A recent open skies agreement between Canada and Mexico will help, as will a new ad campaign launched in late 2011, and the trend’s already started, as Canadian nose counts rose seven per cent in January through September 2011. That same period saw a 55 per cent increase in Russian visits, a 53 per cent increase from Brazil, and 12 per cent from Britain. Tourism authorities want total visitations to soar from 2010’s 22.4 million international overnight visitors to 50 million by 2018.
And you can bet Cancun will be leading those numbers; that margarita-sozzled elephant’s looking happier and happier.
