Mexico City Airport to be Enlarged

Plans have been announced to greatly increase the size of the Mexico City airport. Two runways will be built over the dry bed of what was once Texcoco Lake and an additional terminal will be constructed. The project is not expected to be completed in less than 10 years. Plans to develop an entirely new airport were dropped when farmers objected to the expropriation of their lands. The new facility is aimed at doubling present capacity.

--

Jimm Budd

Reporting From Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Guadalupe Day

Crowds will begin forming tonight for a vast pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most holy shrine in Mexico. There, on a hill in the north of modern Mexico City, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a native in recently-conquered Mexico, and asked that a church be erected on the site of an Aztec temple to the mother of God. To convince skeptics, the Virgin placed her image on the native’s cloak. It hangs today in the shrine and an expected five million people will converge upon the site tonight and tomorrow. The date also informally marks the beginning of the Christmas season in Mexico, ending on the Epiphany in January.

--

Jimm Budd

Reporting From Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Fonatur Failures Outlined

Fonatur, the National Fund for Tourism Development, promises much but delivers little, according to its critics. Cancun is the one great success, followed by Los Cabos, although Los Cabos was attracting tourists before anyone ever heard of Fonatur. The three other original master-planned resort areas – Ixtapa, Huatulco and Loreto – have not lived up to their claimed potential. Playa Espiritu on the Pacific in Sinaloa and the Nautical Stairway planned for the Sea of Cortes seem to have been abandoned along with Costa Maya south of the Riviera Maya and Costa Lora, on the Gulf of Mexico south of Brownsville and Matamoros. All this was pointed out recently by Rodrigo Gallegos in a study made for the Mexico Competiveness Institute.

--

Jimm Budd

Reporting From Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Good Year for Hospitality

Tourism Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu reports that earnings from international travel were up 8 percent over the $12.7 billion spent during 2012 and the same rate of growth is expected next year. This, she noted, is not reflected in the number of travelers who visited the country but that the amount of money that they spent is far more important.

--

Jimm Budd

Reporting From Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

New From Xcaret

Xochimilco Cancun is the newest theme park opened by the Xcaret Group, noted for its installations on the Riviera Maya. Xochimilco is much closer to Cancun itself, being just a short drive from the Cancun airport. The park is a replica of the original in Mexico City where Xochimilco and its floating gardens dates back to Aztec times.

--

Jimm Budd

Reporting From Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Tourism Up, Earnings Not

While Mexico annually attracts more visitors, they spend much less than travelers to other countries. Mexico ranks 13^th among tourism destinations yet is only 24^th in tourism expenditures. Noting all this, Carlos Vogeler, regional director for the UN’s World Tourism Organization, suggested that Mexico needs to modernize its facilities and increase airline service to the country if it wants to improve matters.

--

Jimm Budd

Reporting From Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers