Riding the ecotourism wave is a breeze in Mexico. The coasts are filled with a grab bag of offerings, from kayaking in Los Cabos to zip-lining in the Riviera Nayarit. Sun, sand, desert, and mountains all play into the equation, as destinations increasingly cater to groups looking for outdoor adventure.
“We had a recent study of motivations for travel of the American market into Mexico,” says Rodrigo Esponda, director of the Midwest region
for the Mexico Tourism Board. “One of the motivations was to do outdoor activities, ecotourism and adventure.”
Esponda predicts the demand for ecotourism will grow over the next few years.
“People are becoming more aware of the environment. I think more companies in Mexico will start turning to that niche,” he says. “Some companies are doing tours and starting to accommodate more people.”
Baja California Peninsula
The setting in Los Cabos is perfect for eco adventure, with access to the desert and sea, and activities ranging from scuba diving to riding ATVs across the dunes. DMCs like Cabo Travel Advisors (CTA) have a lot to work with when organizing the big day out.
The company offers cruises, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, and fishing, which is second only to golf for popular activities in Cabo.
While standbys like beach olympics can still be arranged, the company offers an updated repertoire of team-building options, such as the “Guacamole Games,” featuring Mexican-themed events like donkey polo on the beach and dance contests.
According to Victor Mena, managing director and owner of CTA, voluntourism requests from groups is on the rise.
“Lately people are paying more attention to giving something back,” Mena says. “Supporting places in need like shelters or schools is popular. I call the schools and we find out their needs, put the budgets together and they come and do their program.”
Ella Messerli, vice president of marketing for the Los Cabos CVB and general manager of the Marquis Los Cabos, agrees that the trend with groups is team building for a cause. Groups can organize a team-building event with a monetary prize that can be donated to a local charity. Hotels also can offer a list of charity organizations that groups can help through a day of work, such as painting rooms at an orphanage.
Still, the No. 1 activity in Los Cabos is golf.
“Golf is so big we keep adding golf courses,” Messerli says. “In less than five years we might duplicate our number of golf courses.”
The projected number is 16 to 17 courses in five years. Most of the new developments are being included in upcoming master-planned communities, such as Cabo Pacifica and Chileno Bay.
Golf tournaments are a ubiquitous option for team building, while fishing tournaments can also be arranged for groups.
One of the new activities through Cabo Adventures is an America’s Cup Regatta featuring two America’s Cup racing yachts from New Zealand. Groups go out with the racing teams of each boat and do the work themselves.
“They make you pull ropes, they make you do everything. They make you feel like you’ve been working,” Messerli says. “They get to see Los Cabos from the ocean, be on the water and in the fresh air. It’s absolutely sensational.”
Other options that are growing in popularity for Cabo Adventures are the Desert Safari, using Mercedes-Benz all-terrain Unimog vehicles, and the Canyon Canopy Adventure, using zip lines.
“People come to Los Cabos and see the ocean and forget the desert and mountains are incredible,” Messerli says.
On the eastern side of the Baja Peninsula, the Sea of Cortes is rich in wildlife and offers adventures such as snorkeling and scuba diving. In the town of Loreto, the Nopolo Sports Center encompasses a seaside golf course with 18 holes and a tennis center that features a stadium and a swimming pool.
Baja Outpost is a local tour company that can organize whale-watching excursions, camping outings and cave painting tours.
Pacific Coast
Mexico’s Pacific Coast is a virtual outdoor playground, from white-water rafting in the Sierra Madre to surfing in the Riviera Nayarit.
Though Acapulco is traditionally known for its glitzy beach resorts and vibrant nightlife, it is home to two lagoons and plenty of intriguing diversions.
“Acapulco is not just the beach, the sun and the pool,” says Piquis Rochin, international promotion representative for the Acapulco CVB. “We’re pushing our cultural sites and adventure.”
Groups can visit a sea turtle camp at Tres Palos Lagoon or take a boat ride to a bird sanctuary at Coyuca Lagoon.
One adventure offered by DMC Maritur is the Shotover Jet speed boat tour from the Puerto Marques lagoon. Maritur can also arrange activities in Puerto Marques Bay and Acapulco Bay, such as water skiing, parasailing, scuba diving, and snorkeling.
Acapulco is also ready to take the wraps off a recently discovered archeological zone, Tehuacalco, which is located in Chilpancingo in the southern region of the state of Guerrero, where the Yope civilization once resided. Believed to be a ceremonial center, the name Tehuacalco has three different meanings in the ancient Nahuatl language: place of the stone box, place of the priests’ houses and place of the sacred water house. The site will open this year to tourists.
Farther south in Puerto Vallarta, groups can go rafting in the mountains, horseback riding, bicycling, and motorcycle touring.
“Puerto Vallarta is very attractive in terms of ecotourism and adventure tourism,” Esponda says. “You have the Sierra Madre right there.”
According to Esponda, Puerto Vallarta was ground zero for Mexico’s eco adventures, starting 15 years ago with trekking, hiking and canopy adventures. Recently in the last few years, a number of companies specializing in team building have entered the market.
“We think this market is growing a lot,” says Oscar Rivero, president of the Puerto Vallarta CVB.
Several companies, including Tukari and Vallarta Adventures, organize outdoor excursions in the region. Tukari offers seasonal cruises to the Marietas Islands, where there are opportunities to snorkel, kayak, scuba dive, or tour the volcanic grottos in a small boat. It also offers sailing and deep-sea fishing adventures. Vallarta Adventures organizes numerous activities, including whale watching, scuba diving, sailing, Jeep safaris, and multiday jungle survival experiences that are suitable for team building.
Vallarta Adventures also offers programs in the Riviera Nayarit area, which is coming into its own when it comes to group adventures. The 100-mile stretch of Pacific Coast north of Puerto Vallarta includes Punta Mita, a resort and residential community covering more than 1,500 acres on a peninsula surrounded by Banderas Bay. Options in the area include surfing, golfing, sailing, wildlife interaction with sea turtles, and bird watching.
The more adventurous can head out through the mountains on a burro and zip-line through the treetops.
“We have about eight zip-lines in the bay,” says Marc Murphy, managing director of the Riviera Nayarit CVB. “It depends what kind of view you want—treetops, canyons or rivers.”
The Marina Riviera Nayarit recently opened, offering access to fishing boats that can be chartered for competitions as well as yachts. Punta Mita is home to the top-ranked Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course at Punta Mita.
South of Puerto Vallarta in Manzanillo, Eco-Adventures offers tours to the active Volcan de Colima volcano, hiking trips and waterfall excursions.
Mazatlan sits at the base of the Sierra Madre Mountains on a peninsula that extends into the Pacific Ocean, making it ripe for adventure. Options in the area include parasailing, scuba diving and jet skiing. Tours are offered to the El Verde Sea Turtle Conservation Center, as well as to Teacapan, El Caimanero and Stone Island.
In Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, adventure activities range from snorkeling to sport fishing. Sunset sailing trips and ATV excursions through jungle and beach areas are also popular. Meanwhile, Ixtapa is also home to two world-class, 18-hole golf courses. Sunnyside DMC offers scuba diving, bird watching and ATV group tours.
Another eco haven is Huatulco, encompassing nine bays, nature preserves and a handful of resort properties. There is talk of more development.
Mexican Caribbean
Lining Mexico’s Caribbean coastline, big-name resort areas like Cancun and the Riviera Maya make headlines for their high-end resort and spa facilities. But being pampered is only part of the appeal. Archaeological treasures like Chichen-Itza, Tulum and Uxmal are a day trip away, while the beckoning cobalt sea is an adventure lover’s paradise, and there are plenty of land-based recreational pursuits available.
“Golf is big,” says Fernando Cervantes of the Cancun CVB. “We have seven golf courses. The trend is picking up a lot. [Groups] usually have tournaments, and they are organized by the golf course itself.”
Local DMC Tropical Incentives organizes team-building activities like bike building and boat building. In the latter, once the boats are constructed, the teams compete in a regatta with their homemade boats.
The island of Cozumel is also an adventure destination with options such as ATV rides along the beach or through the jungle.
Just south of Cancun is the Riviera Maya, known for its natural charms. Secluded areas like Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve offer more intimate meeting settings within the jungle and mangroves and along the second-largest barrier reef in the world. DMCs organize tours of Sian Kaan, which is also popular for fly-fishing.
Three parks in the area, Xcaret, Xel Ha and Selvatica can each be used for outdoor excursions and team-building activities. Evening programs can be arranged at all three, including dinners.
Tropical Incentives organizes outings to the parks. Its Canopy Tour in Selvatica features the longest zip-line circuit in North America, divided into 12 cables of varying lengths and heights from 270 feet to over 2,000 feet. Following the Canopy Tour, there is a bicycle component, with attendees pedaling less than a mile through Mayan trails toward a cenote, which is a cavern leading to an underground river.
Other options include scavenger hunts in Xcaret, underground river tours and group excursions to Isla Mujeres, where groups can arrange to swim with dolphins at Dolphin Discovery. Also on the island, Garaffon Park offers one of the best snorkeling reefs in the area.
Groups can also arrange tours to Mayan communities to see how the Maya live, with the most popular destination being Pac Chen. The organization Fundacion Haciendas en el Mundo Maya promotes community involvement, especially in the Yucatan’s rural Mayan areas.
Veracruz
Beaches, jungle and banana plantations are just part of the Veracruz landscape. With its Gulf of Mexico setting, Veracruz is ideal for incentives, according to Kitzia Morales, director of K Group Travel and president of the Mexico chapter of SITE.
“From my point of view, the best place for team building is Veracruz,” Morales says.
Morales points to Mexico Verde Expeditions, which offers white-water rafting trips, rappelling, zip-line activities, and corporate team-building programs in the Veracruz jungle.
Mexico Verde runs the Mexico Verde Adventure Resort for overnight group excursions.
“When you see pictures of luxury safaris and tents, that’s the kind of facilities they have,” Morales says.
The resort has a spa, a ropes course and a temescal, or traditional sweat lodge.
Another perfect spot for a remote group retreat is Picocanoa Adventure Lodge.
For More Info
Acapulco CVB 866.283.3866
www.visitacapulco.com.mx
Baja California Secretary of Tourism (Rosarito Beach) 800.962.BAJA
www.rosarito.org
Baja California Sur State Tourism Office 877.MYBAJASUR
www.mybajasur.com
Cancun CVB 011.52.998.881.2745
www.cancun.info
Colima Secretary of Tourism (Manzanillo) 011.52.312.316.2000
www.manzanillo.com.mx
Cozumel Tourist Promotion Board 011.52.987.872.7585
www.islacozumel.com.mx
Huatulco Hotel Association 866.416.0555
www.hoteleshuatulco.com.mx
Ixtapa–Zihuatanejo CVB 866.678.5750
www.ixtapa-zihuatanejo.org
Los Cabos Tourism Board 866.LOSCABOS
www.visitcabo.com
Mazatlan Tourism Trust 011.52.669.913.3333
www.gomazatlan.com
Mexico Tourism Board 202.265.9021
www.visitmexico.com
Puerto Vallarta CVB 888.384.6822
www.visitpuertovallarta.com
Riviera Maya Tourism Board 011.52.984.206.3150 www.rivieramaya.com
Riviera Nayarit CVB 011.52.322.297.2516
www.rivieranayarit.com
Veracruz CVB 011.52.229.923.0391
www.veracruzturismo.com.mx
