Introduction
At FONATUR, you’ll find a dedicated and reliable team of experienced specialists in the tourism industry — people who share the same mindset as the successful entrepreneur and who strive to create greater and better development prospects for the benefit of the entire nation.
Already one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, Mexico offers a bundle of opportunities for the private investor through FONATUR. Mexico is the world’s 8th most visited country and ranks in 12th place in terms of foreign revenue earnings from tourism; in both categories, it is the leader in Latin America.
The country has seen successful results even through the difficult times the world as a whole is experiencing. In 2002, the number of foreign tourists who visited Mexico was similar to that of Canada and Germany: 19.8 million international visitors. While approximately the same number visited in 2001, in 2002 they spent more than 8.4 billion dollars, or 4.1% more than the year before. The average amount spent per visitor saw an increase of 5%.
Mexico has well-established strengths that allow it to compete globally:
- Attractions: Sun, Beaches, Culture, and an abundant and varied Wildlife (Mexico has the world’s 5th largest biodiversity).
- Privileged geographic location: Mexico offers safe and easy access from the U.S., with convenient flights to vacation and business destinations.
- An extensive and diversified 35 billion-dollar tourism industry.
- One of our main assets is our human capital, offering experience and dedication, from the employee to the entrepreneur.
- Systematic promotion of the country through Mexico’s Tourism Promotion Board (Consejo Mexicano de Promoción Turística, CMPT), whose investment for the present year will reach 73 million dollars.
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Foreign Investment in the Tourism Sector.
Mexico has one of the most stable, open and deregulated developing economies in the world, and it currently has the highest proven level of foreign reserves, totaling 51 billion dollars. The world’s three leading credit rating agencies have given Mexico investment grade status, upgrading the nation’s sovereign debt to long-term foreign currency debt guaranteed by the state.
Investors already recognize the sector’s potential, proof of which is that in 2001, 30% of the 1.52 billion dollars in private national and foreign investment in Mexico came from abroad. Of the 170 projects that sum was earmarked for, a third represented investments in beach destinations and another third investments in the Maya World (Mundo Maya).
Tourism is a national priority for Mexico, giving foreign investment all of the means and legal guarantees necessary. Mexico’s regulatory framework fully backs foreign ownership in the majority of economic fields and activities, including real estate, allowing 100% participation in shared capital. Mexican laws governing foreign investment provide legal guarantees, offer security to Mexican and foreign investors, and simplify the paperwork involved in registering foreign investments, as well as in the unrestricted repatriation of profits, bonuses, dividends and interest payments, among other things.
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FONATUR and the Tourism Sector.
FONATUR has developed five Integrally Planned Resorts (IPRs): Cancun, Los Cabos, Ixtapa, Loreto and the Bays of Huatulco, seaside resorts that today enjoy worldwide recognition and competitive advantages over other national and international tourist destinations, such as having a Master Plan, urban-resort planning mechanisms, an Annual Construction Program operated by FONATUR and an Annual Maintenance Program operated by its affiliate, Baja Maintenance and Operation (Baja Mantenimiento y Operación, BMO).
Serving as a determining factor in the growth of the tourism sector and its future outlook, FONATUR has over a period of 30 years developed tourist destinations that have contributed significantly to boosting overnight tourism to Mexico sixfold.
The five destinations developed by FONATUR together offer more than 245 hotels and more than 36,800 rooms, with occupancy rates that reached 61.7% in 2002, or 7 percentage points above the country’s other beach resorts.
On a national scale, these destinations represent 54% of Mexico’s foreign revenue from tourism, and host nearly 40% of all its foreign visitors.
To the benefit of the national economy and the nation’s public finances, these destinations annually generate 2.76 billion dollars and tax revenues that surpass 300 million dollars, in sales tax (called Impuesto al Valor Agregado, or IVA, in Spanish) and lodging tax alone.
These five destinations are examples of developments that spark regional growth: in 2002, the states of Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur, where Cancun and Los Cabos are located, ranked in 4th and 8th place, respectively, in per capita GDP. Back