Cancún, Quintana Roo — As long as tourism infrastructure projects remain under the control of the Mexican Army, they will continue to post losses or struggle through a costly learning curve, business leaders warned.
The warning comes two years into the operation of flagship projects such as the Maya Train and the Tulum International Airport, both managed by the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) through the state-owned company GAFSACOMM, now rebranded as Grupo Mundo Maya. The conglomerate oversees 43 assets, including airports, the Maya Train, parks, and museums.
Business representatives said the militarized approach lacks the tourism vision needed for success. They noted that any proposal from tour operators, private investors, or state and local governments to boost these projects must receive military approval, often causing months-long delays.
“The military operates under a different logic than the tourism industry, where success depends on demand generated by promotion, quality standards, and specialized service,” said one industry source.
The Maya Train, for example, continues to lose millions of pesos daily. Its primary users are local workers and domestic tourists, while international visitors — expected to arrive via Cancún and disperse across the southeast — have not materialized in significant numbers.
Hoteliers in the Mexican Caribbean had requested a detailed schedule of arrivals, departures, and frequencies to promote the train to international tour operators, but the military did not coordinate with them. International tourists, who travel with fixed itineraries, are reluctant to use a service that can be canceled on short notice if the president decides to travel or if technical issues arise.
At Tulum International Airport, international passenger traffic dropped 34% in the first months of the year due to flight cancellations by international airlines. While factors such as rising jet fuel costs played a role, airlines have cut service to less demanded destinations, and Tulum has struggled with expensive ground transportation — a problem tour operators flagged early on but faced months of resistance to adjust.
At the Parque del Jaguar, visitors have reported difficulties accessing beaches and a militarized treatment at entry points. Hotels in the area also report low occupancy rates.
Business leaders emphasized that the projects themselves are not flawed, but they lack a tourism-oriented management model. “These projects should strengthen the tourism machinery of the Mexican Caribbean and the southeast, but they are still struggling to develop a tourism logistics,” one executive said.
Grupo Mundo Maya controls 12 airports, including the Tulum International Airport and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), as well as airports in Puebla, Palenque, and Chetumal. It also operates the airline Mexicana de Aviación, six hotels in archaeological zones with 1,170 rooms, four natural parks, two museums, and 18 fuel stations across 12 states.
The model mirrors that of Cuba’s GAESA, a military-run conglomerate that controls key sectors of the island’s economy, including hotels and travel agencies.
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