Chains Expand

Hilton and InterContinental both expect to grow in Mexico in the months ahead. Hilton is looking at six Hampton Inns including three Doubletrees, two Homewood Suites plus a Garden Inn. Half of these will open this year. InterContinental is talking about half-a-billion dollars going into the opening of 47 hotels during the next three years with a total of 5,000 rooms. City Express, a rapidly expanding Mexican chain of inexpensive inns, has announced that about a dozen franchised properties will be opened within the next two years. All of these are in new structures built to the parent company’s specifications. One reason for all this investment may be that business is good. The Tourism Ministry announced hotel occupancy in 2010 grew by an average of 9.9 percent, led by Puerto Vallarta, which saw a growth of 33 percent, followed by Acapulco, 23 percent, and Guadalajara, 11 percent.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Royal Tour

President Felipe Calderón has been taking travel star Peter Greenberg on what is being called the Royal Tour, showing the television journalist around the Yucatan Peninsula and, most recently, Jalisco. All this for a program scheduled to be broadcast on the Travel Channel in September. Last month, Calderón declared 2011 to be Mexico Tourism Year and now seems intent on showing this was more than a meaningless decree. While some travelers are concerned about safety as gangs battle for control of drug routes, Calderón is enjoying the same type of security afforded to Obama during his peregrinations.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Holiday

Today is Constitution Day (Observed), a national holiday marking the anniversary (on 5 February) of the signing of the 1917 Constitution, which, when promulgated, was considered perhaps the most radical such document in the world. It replaced the 1857 Constitution that provided for freedom of religion and replaced the 1824 Constitution, which created the Mexican United States (now officially translated as the United Mexican States). Although the Constitution of the United States of America is regarded as the oldest of the world’s constitutions, it was preceded by several years by the 1776 New Hampshire Constitution when New Hampshire considered itself a sovereign and independent state.

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Jim Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Riviera Maya airport delayed again

Request for bids to construct a Riviera Maya airport has been delayed again. This time, the National Competition Council gets the blame. The Council wants ASUR (Southern Airports) barred from bidding. ASUR operates CUN, second-busiest airport in the country. The Riviera Maya airport, which probably will be located about 100 miles south of Cancun, would attempt to lure traffic away from CUN. The new airport is needed, goes the argument, because it takes some travelers three hours or more to reach resorts located closer to Tulum than to Cancun. On occasion, ASUR executives have argued that serving both airports directly would be too expensive for airlines. Nonetheless, if a Riviera Maya airport is built, ASUR wants a chance to participate in the bidding and plans to take the matter to court.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Mazatlan gets its cruise ships back

The Tourism Ministry has announced that cruise ships will be returning to Mazatlan. Tourism Minister Gloria Guevara met with an organization representing cruise line operators and pledged efforts will be made to guarantee the safety of all passengers. What apparently were muggings of passengers in three separate incidents led to the cancellation of visits to Mazatlan by three ships. This cost the port an estimated quarter-of-a-million dollars in lost revenue for taxi drivers, sightseeing companies, trinket sellers and others. It was added that the Canadian shot last month in the leg by a stray bullet was not a cruise ship passenger.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Tamale Day

Elsewhere it may be Groundhog Day, but in Mexico Feb. 2 is Candlemass Day, the day when images of the child Jesus are wrapped and put away until next Christmas. It is said that on this day the Christ child was formally presented at the Hebrew Temple (he was, after all, a Jew). Mexicans traditionally celebrate the day by devouring tamales served by whosoever found a replica of the Child Jesus in a slice of Twelfth Night cake served at an Epiphany Supper on Jan. 6. Now attention is devoted to Mardi Gras or Carnaval, which this year starts on March 5.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers

Best hotels

The Four Seasons in Mexico City is the best hotel in the country, according to the readers of “Travel & Leisure,” which recently published a list of their top 250 hotels around the world. Among these are 15 in Mexico: The Casa Magna Marriot Resort, the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Resort & Spa, the Hilton, The Méridien and the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun; The Auberge Esperanza, Rosewood’s Las Ventanas al Paraíso, the Melía Cabo Real (All-Inclusive), the One & Only Palmilla, and Pueblo Bonito Pacífica, in Los Cabos; the Mexico City JW Marriott, Las Brisas in Acapulco and the Fairmont Mayakoba on the Riviera Maya.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers