Weather In Cancun Mexico In January

Travel South of the Border

Back in the summer of 2010, Mexican Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara stood before a crowd in Beverly Hills and proclaimed a new strategy to recapture US visitors. In a speech, Guevara stressed the myriad cultural amenities her country offers tourists.

“Mexico has 29 sites that are patrimonies of humanity, 62 ethnic groups and more than 30,000 archaeological zones,” Guevara told an audience in the star-studded city of the rich and famous. “We are number two in the world for luxury tourism.”

But a year after Guevara’s presentation, and some months after President Calderon declared 2011 “The Year of Tourism” in Mexico, the campaign has fallen flat.

New government and industry reports report that not only is income down in the international tourism sector, which is historically dependent on a massive US visitor stream, but the flow of dollars is even weaker than in 2009, when the global economic crash, swine flu scare and escalations of so-called narco-violence all converged into a perfect storm that lashed and slashed the pillars of the industry.

“Among the reasons international tourism is not coming to our country is because it is a social and economic phenomenon vulnerable to perceptions of insecurity, whether for health and safety reasons,” stated a recent study prepared for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.

According to the study, international tourism revenues during the critical January-March high season dropped from $3.66 billion in 2010 to $3.32 billion in 2011. The study reported that spending from border tourists plunged by $453.7 million during the January-May timeframe. Based on the numbers, the study’s authors concluded it would be very difficult for Mexico to match the nearly $13.3 billion it took in from international tourism in 2008, the year before multiple crises shattered the business.

A separate study by Banamex-Citigroup confirmed the downward dollar trend, reporting that between January and May of this year international tourism earned Mexico about $5.3 billion, an earning which was 5.9 percent less than the amount netted during the same time frame of 2010.

Baby Sea Turtle Release at the Ritz Carlton Cancun « Gringation's Blog

Step out onto a quiet beach in Cancun and the Riviera Maya on a summer night, and you just might spot a female see turtle laying her eggs in the sand. This summer alone, I’ve had several friends mention that they’ve seen sea turtles laying eggs at night on several beaches in Cancun’s Hotel Zone.

Lots of development and activity, however, has made local beaches unsafe for the turtle eggs, and many resorts are now looking for a way to restore balance by finding the turtle eggs and giving them a safe home until they hatch. The hatchlings are then released into the Caribbean to try their luck on their own.

I was recently invited to the very first Baby Turtle Release of the 2011 season at the Ritz Carlton Cancun . Even though I’ve been living here 6 years, it was the first time I’d witnessed one! PR Director Paulina Feltrin gave me a tour of the beautiful hotel and explained about their Turtle Camp, run by Juan de Dios.

The Ritz Carlton has been helping the baby turtles for more than 13 years! They patrol the beaches at night searching for nesting turtles, then recover the eggs and bring them to safety at their Turtle Camp, where they can rest safely for 45 to 60 days until they hatch.

The baby sea turtles are always released in the evenings to increase their chance of survival from predators, although it’s estimated that only 1 in every 1,000 sea turtles will survive to adulthood.

After a glance at the Turtle Camp, Paulina led me down to the beach area, where a large crowd of Ritz Carlton guests had gathered to share the experience.

I could feel the air abuzz with excitement and curiosity. The adults were snapping photos (note: no flash allowed!) while the kids were peering into the basket of sea turtles as Paulina explained the process. Sea turtles were then passed around to guests, who were careful to hold the baby turtles by the sides of their shell.

And then… they were off!

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