Puerto Morelos Hotels Violate Beach Event Permits

The Puerto Morelos Reef National Park (PNAPM) has revealed that 25 local hotels lack the necessary permits to host events on the beach. These permits should have been obtained through the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat). This issue is a common occurrence along the municipality's coastline, with two to three incidents reported every weekend.

María del Carmen García, the director of PNAPM, stated that only one hotel has received a concession from the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) to hold events. Consequently, visitors to the Art Garden or Langosta no longer have parking facilities.

García emphasized that hotels must secure their permit or concession from the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone, which outlines the terms of use. Currently, only one hotel has been granted permission to host events. The remaining hotels have yet to secure their permits. The PNAPM is working on filing a complaint to bring this issue to the attention of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa).

García also noted that hotels have been losing beachfront property due to sea encroachment. As a result, they are required to report this to the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone and Coastal Environments (Zofematac) and request a new delineation of their concession space.

In instances where events are detected outside of a hotel's designated concession space, park rangers request that the activity be halted. If this request is not complied with, the matter is reported to Profepa, which will then determine the appropriate penalty.