Tulum’s Tourism Crisis Is Structural, Not Seasonal, Mexico’s Tourism Chief Says

Tulum, Quintana Roo — Tulum’s tourism slump is neither new nor simply the product of sargassum and fewer international visitors, Mexico’s tourism secretary said, acknowledging years of disorderly growth, inadequate public services and steep price increases at one of the country’s best-known Caribbean destinations.

Tourism Secretary Josefina Rodríguez Zamora told MVS Noticias in an interview with Ana Francisca Vega that the destination’s problems are structural and have been building for years.

“Tulum is not a matter of a few months with fewer tourists, it’s years. It’s a destination that has not reinvented itself, one that lacks infrastructure,” she said.

She also pointed to some tourism operators as partly responsible for eroding the destination’s competitiveness.

“We have to say it plainly: it took advantage of tourists, prices went up enormously,” Rodríguez Zamora said.

More Rooms Than Acapulco, but Not Enough Services

Hotel development in Tulum has outpaced the infrastructure needed to support it. According to the secretary, the destination now has more rooms than Acapulco when hotels and short-term rentals listed on platforms such as Airbnb are counted together.

Real estate and tourism development have expanded without matching growth in urban services, mobility or public infrastructure, she said.

Heavy sargassum arrivals have compounded the problem, damaging the destination’s image and the condition of some of its beaches.

To address the situation, the federal government is pushing a strategy called Tulum Renace, which calls for changes to the management model of the Parque del Jaguar, regulation and certification of service providers, infrastructure upgrades and new measures to deal with sargassum.

Rodríguez Zamora said Fonatur, the government’s tourism development agency, is preparing a diagnosis of urban services to identify the destination’s needs.

The government’s plan goes beyond luring visitors back, aiming instead to overhaul the tourism offering and correct problems accumulated over years.

Cancún Feels the Loss of U.S. Flights

The drop in visitors from the United States poses another challenge for the Mexican Caribbean.

Rodríguez Zamora said higher jet fuel prices have made plane tickets more expensive and disrupted international travel. While Mexico’s overall visitor numbers continue to grow, some destinations are facing particular difficulties, she acknowledged.

Cancún is among the most exposed because of its reliance on international air connectivity.

She cited the cutback in Spirit Airlines operations, which she said cost the Mexican Caribbean more than 350,000 seats.

The strategy, she said, is to restore lost flight frequencies and diversify the countries tourists come from.

“We expect that in the second quarter of 2027 flights to Cancún will recover the frequencies that were lost with the United States,” she said.

In the meantime, the Tourism Department is working to increase arrivals from Canada, Brazil, Colombia and several Asian countries.

Rodríguez Zamora insisted Mexico must reduce its dependence on traditional sun-and-beach tourism by promoting cultural, community, gastronomic, health and convention travel as well.

Guadalajara to Host ITB Américas for Five Years

Amid those challenges, Mexico is trying to strengthen its international profile by hosting ITB Américas in Guadalajara, which the secretary said will remain in the city for five years.

Rodríguez Zamora said it is the first time Mexico has hosted an international tourism trade fair organized by ITB, making the country its fifth global host.

The event brings together representatives of all 32 states, participants from 45 countries and more than 300 potential buyers from the tourism sector.

The fair is aimed exclusively at industry professionals, including tour operators, travel agencies, airlines, hoteliers and destination representatives.

Its goal is to facilitate business agreements that can add new Mexican experiences and destinations to international travel itineraries for 2027 and 2028.

Alongside business meetings, the event features more than 100 conferences on innovation, digitalization and the sector’s challenges.

“It’s a great triumph for the private sector,” Rodríguez Zamora said, highlighting cooperation between business associations and the federal government in securing the venue.

An Industry Supporting More Than 5 Million Jobs

The secretary noted that tourism generates more than 5.09 million direct jobs in Mexico, a figure she said reflects the industry’s economic and social weight.

The sector’s impact extends well beyond large hotel chains, encompassing restaurants, guides, artisans, small service providers and communities whose economies depend on visitors.

Rodríguez Zamora argued for expanding the tourism offering into regions that have traditionally received less international attention.

She said central Mexico is seeing favorable growth in tourist arrivals, which could help offset difficulties in destinations such as Tulum and Cancún.

Still, her remarks laid bare one of Mexican tourism’s main challenges: attracting more visitors does not by itself guarantee sustainable development at a destination.

Tulum illustrates the consequences of tourism expansion that, by the Tourism Department’s own account, was not matched by sufficient infrastructure, regulation or public services. Recovery will depend not only on new promotion campaigns or new air routes, but on the ability to fix the structural problems now weighing on the visitor experience and on the competitiveness of one of Mexico’s most famous destinations.