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Push against development on Mexico's beaches

Catherine Deshayes

A major push against development on some of Mexico's beaches will hit hotel owners hard.

A planning issue which has resulted in uniformed soldiers showing up at exclusive eco-boutique hotels and closing them may be the start of a major push against development on some of Mexico's beaches.

The hotels in the beachfront Mayan city of Tulum, which lies south of Playa del Carmen and Akumal, have been built on a National Park where no development is allowed, says Federal Government officials.

This is despite property owners having clean titles issued by the State Government.

Tulum is only 80 miles from the eternally popular tourist resort of Cancun, and the hotels are also popular with those visiting nearby Mayan archaeological sites and ruins.

They have managed to obtain a court injunction allowing them to stay open while the dispute is resolved.

The Tulum beaches are some of the most beautiful and underdeveloped in the area, and it seems officials are trying to get them to stay that way.

Mexico's Federal Environmental Prosecutor, Patricio Patron, wants the buildings not just closed down, but ultimately removed from land the Federal government says is protected.

"The hotels are not only too near to the historical ruins, but they are also on land reserved for protected species," he said.

The problem centres on the fact that the National Park was decreed in 1981 but the legal process was never completed properly by the Federal government. The State Government then titled and sold parts of the Tulum beach to different investors.

Los Angeles based real estate investment and management Kor Group, recently paid £30 million for a Tulum beach and has not, so far, been able to develop it due to the ongoing issues.

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