In this context, Travel2latam spoke with Andrés Martínez, General Director of the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council.
What has been the experience of participating in an event like Cancún Travel Mart?
It is really a place where Cancun is a tourist epicenter, with the connectivity and facilities that hotels always offer. The event is ideal for bringing together the entire tourism sector in all its branches, from hoteliers, operators and media to airlines. They are all present here and generate not only actions within the convention center, but also many things around it. For example, visitors can learn about new properties at the openings at the cocktail parties around it, and many other hotels have the opportunity to host their business partners and key partners. It is not just about showing them the brochure, but about directly presenting the hotel and the beach.
What are the main new developments you can share?
I think the consolidation of the Maya Train is very relevant, as it brought a very strong national project and is currently connecting two international airports, the Cancun Airport and the Tulum Airport. Soon it will also connect the Chetumal Airport, but today we are already beginning to see dynamics of movement between the destinations.
In addition, very strong investments were announced in the cruise sector with Royal Caribbean in the south of the state, in Mahahual, which will imply a very strong development of the region. There are also two new hotel openings in Cancun, and we have reached 133,000 rooms in the destination, which continues to mark us as the leader in the Caribbean and probably the leader in Latin America in number of rooms.
On the other hand, we have new actions, for example, in the train stations. The one that draws attention and stands out is the one in Tulum, which is included in the archaeological site of Tulum, in the Jaguar Park, and includes different activities. The further you go on the train, the more thematic stations there will be, with museums, activities and development of this tourist product.
What's new in terms of connectivity?
We have made significant progress in air connectivity within the state. Today, with Aerus, you have the option of flying from Cozumel to Chetumal, from Cozumel to Cancun, from Cancun to Chetumal and vice versa. We have achieved connectivity within a territory as extensive as ours, with 12 destinations in the Mexican Caribbean.
In addition, the Avianca flight joins Copa to provide connectivity to Tulum with the rest of Latin America, right?
Yes, this is great news from Latin America. In terms of air connectivity, two important flights are being added. Firstly, the one you mentioned, with Avianca flying directly to Tulum, being the first flight from Colombia; and also the Gol flight from Brasilia starting in December, operating Brasilia - Cancun. In addition to being the capital of Brazil, Brasilia is located in the north, which favors destinations such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo being able to access this flight. It will be a hub to work with and we will thus have direct connectivity with Brazil.
These flights that arrive in Tulum can also be used to later visit Cancun or other destinations.
Exactly. In fact, a phenomenon is being generated that we did not have in the Mexican Caribbean. Visitors are landing at one airport and returning through another. Normally, itineraries were made to land in Cancun and, within a certain distance and time, choose which destinations to visit. Today, with the ease of movement within the destination and with another airport to return to, this no longer exists.
If we take the example of Colombia, a tourist who lands in Cancun and chooses to return through Tulum, now has a variety of destinations that he has not known before, such as Mahahual, Bacalar and Chetumal itself in the south of the state.
How do you imagine 2025 with this new phenomenon of exploring new destinations?
There was a situation in 2024, especially in aircraft, with a low inventory of aircraft under review. But little by little it recovered and connectivity continued to grow. We hope that this will continue in 2025.
Investments in hotels were announced these days, Ritz Carlton announced an investment of 400 million in the hotel zone of Cancun. And in Costa Mujeres, a destination north of Cancun, we had the opening of a Secrets.
The challenge is getting bigger and bigger. We are growing in parallel with air connectivity versus room inventory. And in addition, all the tourist activities are also developing. There is golf, aquatic and cultural activities, and in parallel, we are working for the convention segment, which is a key market for us. It is a very professional and sectorized industry, and we want the tourist promotion to be at the level of what it means to have 12 destinations in the Mexican Caribbean.
We have practically achieved and executed this campaign, with a 15% increase in flight searches. This has generated good branding numbers, but has also accompanied the sales of our commercial partners, which are the airlines and operators.
In terms of international promotion, what events do you have coming up?
We started Atmex in Chetumal, which is a national fair for adventure and tourism. Then comes London with WTM, and later we will have IBT in Barcelona, which is a business fair.
We also have the Dema Show in Las Vegas, and there are several companies from Cozumel Island and Playa del Carmen that will be there. Then we have a strategy that we call “The Road Show,” which is to be present mainly in the United States and Canada. We are going to travel along the east coast and this year-end we will visit New York, Chicago and New Jersey, and in Canada we will visit Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, visiting meetings with travel agents and operators. Finally, we will close the year with the Association of Travel Agents of the United States, meeting in Florida.
After a short break, we are starting again at Fitur, which is an eight-day agenda, in which we bring approximately 30 companies as part of the Mexican Caribbean that accompany us. It is a fair in which we start the year and it becomes very strategic. We are already eager to be able to define the modality with which we will present ourselves in 2025.