Massive Water Park Project Advances in Mahahual Despite Opposition

Mahahual, Quintana Roo — The cruise line Royal Caribbean has formally submitted its Perfect Day México project to Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) for environmental impact authorization. The project involves constructing a massive water park adjacent to the cruise ship pier in Mahahual, in southern Quintana Roo, with a previously announced investment reaching one billion dollars, despite opposition from part of the local population.

The American cruise company is seeking approval for a large-scale tourist complex specialized in aquatic recreational activities on a total plot of 82.58 hectares, of which 404.88 square meters correspond to beachfront.

The initial operational capacity is planned for up to 21,000 cruise tourists per day, in addition to 2,500 employees for the park’s operation.

“The park’s design has been divided into six thematic areas: 1) arrival, 2) hideaway, 3) family cove, 4) loco waterpark, 5) service areas (boh), and 6) natural areas,” according to the brief description in Semarnat’s Ecological Gazette.

The project was filed under the name of the firm Cielo Asoleado S. de R.L. de C.V., although the complete Environmental Impact Statement is not available for download online.

Since its announcement in late 2024, this project has generated great expectation not only due to its size and the amount of investment but also because of the transformation it implies for the small community of Mahahual and its natural environment. According to projections from the cruise line itself, the goal is for the cruise pier and this park, both owned by Royal Caribbean, to receive five million cruise tourists annually.

This led to the launch of a signature-gathering campaign on Change.org against the project, called Salvemos Mahahual (Save Mahahual), which began on July 21, 2025, and to date has already gathered 365,935 signatures.

According to the petition, Perfect Day threatens the very existence of Mahahual, a coastal town in southeastern Mexico that borders the world’s second-largest coral reef.

“This project contemplates the construction of a 90-hectare water park on a protected mangrove zone, an essential natural barrier for marine life, ecological balances… and our future,” reads the petition on Change.org.

It adds that this project directly threatens the “right of access and use of the sea, beaches, and mangroves, local identity, way of life, as well as the survival of unique and threatened ecosystems that harbor endangered species such as sea turtles, manatees, mangroves, and the world’s second-largest coral reef.”

In its defense, the cruise line has stated that the mangrove within the project’s boundaries is already impacted by sewage discharge, which it claims is the result of poor management by the local government’s treatment plant. (With information from Jesús Vázquez)