Fonatur Doubles Maya Ka’an Budget to 20 Million Pesos

Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo — Mexico’s National Tourism Development Fund (Fonatur) has doubled its budget for the Maya Ka’an destination from 10 million to 20 million pesos to pay for infrastructure and tourism improvements, a state tourism official said.

Andrés Aguilar Becerril, Quintana Roo’s undersecretary of Tourism, said the executive plans for the projects were reviewed during a meeting of the destination’s governing body.

Two projects are scheduled to close out the year: an extension of just over one kilometer of the Caminos Ancestrales (Ancestral Roads) route in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and new highway signage.

Aguilar Becerril said both projects already have completed executive files and will be carried out before the end of 2026 as part of a catalog of 53 projects that make up the Maya Ka’an strategy, which has been held up as a national model.

The work stems from a decree signed in Tihosuco, in the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, that declared community tourism a matter of national interest.

That decree led to the creation of a governance mechanism involving three states — Yucatán with its Caminos del Mayab program, Oaxaca with its indigenous communities, and Quintana Roo with Maya Ka’an — along with federal agencies.

Fonatur recently led the launch of an academic network in Mexico City, inviting universities and research centers from across the country to produce scientific research on community tourism.

The aim is to move away from measuring tourism only by the number of visitors or passengers and toward metrics that track local development, protection of heritage, languages and customs, Aguilar Becerril said.

Looking ahead, he said officials are weighing basic-services projects for water, energy and drainage that use ecotechnologies suited to rural communities of 700 to 800 residents, where a conventional treatment plant would not be viable.

On the broader tourism agenda, Aguilar Becerril reported that the state’s ReturQ tourism registry has already surpassed last year’s goal with 5% growth and more than 3,500 registrations, covering almost 80% of hotel rooms. Vacation rentals remain a challenge, with fewer than 1,000 registrations against roughly 20,000 active listings.