Release: Private Investment in Mexico?s Tourism Sector Booming
http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=11195
July 29th, 2006
Chicago, IL (OPENPRESS) July 29, 2006 -- Exceeding US$11.6 billion, private investment in Mexico?s tourism sector has already surpassed federal goals
for the 2001 to 2006 period by 29 percent, reports Sectur in its latest comprehensive study on the subject. Domestic and foreign private investment
reached the original US$9 billion goal in June 2005, after increasing at least 12 percent annually since 2002.
The report also shows that interest in Mexico?s famous beaches remains high, with the sun and beach segment outpacing all other tourism products by
garnering 48 percent of private investment. Three coastal states also ranked in the top three in amount of private investment received: Guerrero State
(US$2.63 billion), Quintana Roo State (US$2.47 billion) and Nayarit State (US$92.5 million) captured almost 52 percent of the total amount invested
between 2001 and 2006.
Approximately 89 percent of private investment in Guerrero went to tried-and-true beach resort Acapulco on the Pacific Ocean, whereas 82 percent of
the private investment Quintana Roo received was channeled to the Mexican Caribbean hot spots Cancun and Riviera Maya. More than 60 percent of
Nayarit?s private investment went to the Pacific resort town of Nuevo Vallarta.
Rounding out the top Mexican five states receiving the highest amount of public investment are border states of Baja California (US$86.3 million) and
Sonora (US$78.4 million). Together, the states on the U.S./Mexico border, which also include Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, received
19 percent of private investment in Mexico, ranking the region second overall.
Among the northern region?s major tourism attractions are Copper Canyon in Chihuahua; the La Quemada archaeological sites in Zacatecas; the bustling
city of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon and 200,000-acre Cuatro Cienegas Valley in Coahuila. International sources account for 25 percent of all private
investment, with the United States as the top foreign investor in Mexico?s tourism infrastructure.
Mexico has long been taking strategic steps to stimulate tourism and attract private investors through its National Trust Fund for Tourism
Development, Fonatur. This government agency is responsible for conceiving, planning and building five sea-side tourism destinations ? Cancun, Los
Cabos, Ixtapa, Loreto and the Bays of Huatulco ? since its 1974 inception.
These resorts areas generate 54 percent of foreign revenue entering the country from tourism and benefit from a master plan, urban-resort planning
mechanisms, and annual construction programs and enforcement.
Because fomenting international tourism is a national priority for Mexico, the country?s regulatory framework legally protects foreign investors.
Mexico allows foreign investors to have ownership in the majority of economic fields and activities, including real estate, allowing 100 percent
participation in shared capital. Investors are also offered a profitability guarantee and investment security through Fonatur.
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