Quintana Roo Tightens Tourism Oversight to Curb Fraud Ahead of Winter Season

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo is tightening surveillance and prevention measures to shield visitors from tourism scams run by fake agencies, digital platforms and unlicensed service providers, with authorities focusing on the coming winter high season.

Bernardo Cueto Riestra, the state’s tourism secretary, said the State Tourism Registry (RETUR-Q) has become one of the main tools for identifying companies and providers that meet the requirements to operate legally in Quintana Roo.

He said the registry now lists more than 3,000 tourism service providers, a rise of roughly 20 percent from a year earlier. According to Cueto Riestra, that figure is three times the national registry’s count of providers identified in the state.

The strategy, he said, brings order to the tourism sector, allows officials to verify documentation and gives greater certainty to travelers who book excursions, tours, lodging and other services across the Mexican Caribbean.

“For prevention, the registry has helped a great deal in identifying the service providers that are regulated, that are in order, that meet all the requirements to deliver a good experience,” he said.

Cueto Riestra acknowledged that tourism fraud requires a strategy beyond registering businesses, and said his department is working with security authorities on cases that may amount to crimes.

Three-Stage Strategy

He said the approach has three stages: prevention, containment and prosecution of criminal conduct, particularly involving fake agencies or fraudulent digital channels that offer services they never deliver.

The tourism secretary said meetings are planned with restaurant industry representatives and car rental companies to strengthen regulation and customer service for visitors.

For rental firms operating at Cancún International Airport, the state also aims to expand use of the tarjetón, or state mobility pass, which gives tourists clearer information on traffic rules and on procedures that apply if they are ticketed.

Cueto Riestra said tourism fraud has already declined as a result of the measures, though he did not provide figures during the interview.

“There has been a very specific, very targeted decrease in these frauds, in line with the strategy we have developed in Quintana Roo,” he said.

He said he would ask his tourism assistance team to publish the relevant data so the scale of the problem can be reported more precisely.

Cueto Riestra said the goal is to build visitor confidence through regulated services, proper attention and mechanisms that allow authorities to act when irregularities arise, especially during periods of peak arrivals.