Cancún’s Public Beaches at Risk of Privatization

Cancún, Mexico — The potential reclassification of public beaches as "tourist services" zones within Cancún's Urban Development Program (PDU) has raised alarms among environmental organizations, which warn of a risk of coastal privatization and impacts to the ecological balance of the coastal zone.

The organization Defendiendo el Derecho a un Medio Ambiente Sano (DMAS) stated that, although the municipality of Benito Juárez is in the process of updating its PDU for the 2025–2030 period, the document must correct the technical and legal errors of previous plans, such as the PDU 2018–2030 and the failed PDU 2022, which included tourist land uses in spaces originally designated for public beaches.

"The new PDU must guarantee the protection of natural heritage and the citizens' right to free access to beaches. Classifying them as tourist services opens the door to construction, concessions, or access restrictions that are contrary to the spirit of the law," the collective warned.

DMAS recalled that emblematic beaches such as Las Perlas, Langosta, Tortugas, and Marlín, historically considered for public use, have appeared in recent versions of the urban plans with a tourist or commercial vocation, a situation that, according to the organization, violates the General Law of National Assets and the principle that maritime beaches are public goods for common use.

Beyond the issue of access, the group emphasized that changing the land use classification can increase urban pressure on the coastal strip, affecting sensitive ecosystems such as dunes, manglares, and sea turtle nesting zones.

The debate over the occupation of Cancún's coastline has been ongoing for more than four decades, when hotel expansion transformed a large part of the coast into concessioned areas. Only three beaches—Playa del Niño, Delfines, and Coral—officially maintain their public status, although citizen groups maintain that there are more properties donated by the National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur) with a designated social use that are now listed with a different purpose.

Urban planning experts consulted by the organization have warned that the new PDU must align with the local ecological zoning and the principles of sustainable development, avoiding a repetition of the legal loopholes that allowed the irregular expansion of tourist projects in recent years.