Recently elected President of Mexico Andres Manuel Obrador has chosen to shift about $300M of the tourism-tax revenues currently used to fund national tourist board Consejo de Promocion Turistica de Mexico to expansion of the 1500 km Cancun/Yucatan "Maya Train" scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Visitation to the Yucatan Peninsula from the USA has been off since the State Department in 2017 issued travel advisories warning of cartel violence and tainted alcohol in the region.
The shuttering of 18 tourism offices, on top of ongoing US travel alerts for Mexico crime and violence, will put Mexico at serious disadvantage in competition among warm-weather Western Hemisphere tourist destinations.
What countries will be first to try to fill the gap? I'm thinking Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala are likely contenders.
Stay tuned.
- David
