Let's Go2Mexico - Articles

Mexico to Create Citizen Council to Make Tourist Development Construction Operations Transparent
Provided by Ambito – Photos by Jesus de Avila

At the inauguration of the 21st Annual Convention of the Tourist Developers Association (AMDETUR, Spanish initials) Mexican Tourism Minister Rodolfo Elizondo Torres said that this is the right time to clearly and firmly establish punitive measures against municipal authorities when they don’t abide by basic precepts.

To make transparent the processes of construction permit issuing, density and use of soil approval to tourist developers, the Tourism Minister proposed implementing a vigilance mechanism, integrated in a citizen council in which the municipal authority and the society concur.

“I would like to particularly refer to the protagonist role of the municipalities, since they have the final word on issuing construction permits, defining the use of soil and to set construction densities. However, it has been known of irresponsible issuing of permits to build on unsuitable locations, and that constructions have been allowed beyond authorized density or that change of use of soil has been authorized to the detriment of the destination and its population in general” he added.

Elizondo reiterated his call to establish a pact on economy, territory and tourism in which co responsibility is assumed by the private and public sectors, to guarantee the wellbeing of the community and to promote sustainable, orderly growth of the country.
The Minister of Tourism said that attraction of capital should not happen to produce disorderly, predatory growth, which is contrary to the country’s interest.

“Domestic and foreign investments made in our country must obey a rector principle of the Mexican state, safekeeping at all moment not only the national wellbeing, but the natural wealth and the country’s vast cultural patrimony.

In Mexico we welcome investments and we are enthusiastic to learn that there are many businessmen interested in investing in our country, but it doesn’t mean we are about to neglect our commitment to sustainable human development, balance and order in the growth of our tourist destinations” he said.

The head of Sectur went on to say that real estate developments in our country must keep a permanent harmony with the environment, since our coastlines cannot and are not to be saturated by urban complexes under the concept of tourist real estate, since in many cases they come to give a uniform appearance to the tourist destinations, when what is really sought is to make differences to attract tourists. Vallarta is different from Cancun or Los Cabos, and in their differences lies their attractiveness.”

The Tourism Ministry promotes investments that will generate business not for one day or one year, but for many years to come; investments with a vision of sustainability, that will generate benefits not only to the owner of the capital, but an investment that will carry a “social mortgage”, that generates economic flow, wealth for the community and well-paid jobs.

“We cannot saturate our tourist spaces because we run the risk of overexploiting a destination and cause it to collapse; a serious problem experienced by some areas of the Iberia Peninsula; therefore we must be cautious as to the growth of our destinations to the purpose of avoiding such crisis” he concluded.

Source: Ambito Puerto Vallarta Weekly Newspaper

Send to a friend

E-mail us