With a flurry of new master-planned communities and resort hotels, Mexico is experiencing a growth spurt along its coastline.
Baja California Peninsula
Los Cabos is particularly busy with new construction.
Master-planned communities include the Chileno Bay Club on the Sea of Cortes, featuring a private marina and yacht club, the Inn at Chileno Bay and two golf courses.
Puerto Los Cabos is another community spanning 1,900 acres along three miles of Sea of Cortes beachfront. The community features five-star hotels, a 535-slip marina and two golf courses.
There are a number of enhancements taking shape at existing properties, including an expansion of meeting space at Dreams Los Cabos, scheduled for completion this year, and the new 7,000-square-foot Spa Oasis that opened at the Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort in January.
Pacific Coast
The main addition for Acapulco is Mundo Imperial in the Diamante-Acapulco area, a growing region south of the hotel zone. Mundo Imperial will include Expo Imperial, featuring more than 360,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space; Foro Imperial, a 4,800-seat venue; and Fiesta Imperial, a 210,000-square-foot plaza surrounded by restaurants, nightclubs and cultural venues. The complex will also include Casa Imperial, an 879-room resort, and Sol Imperial, a wellness spa. The hotel is slated to open in August, the expo center by November and the spa by early 2009.
Grupo Posadas is also planning to open the One Acapulco this year.
In Puerto Vallarta, Riu Hotels & Resorts will unveil the 484-room Riu Palace Pacifico in October, which will have conference facilities. Puerto Vallarta is also planning a new convention center, with the first phase slated to include more than 54,000 square feet of event space.
Several hotel projects are taking shape along the Riviera Nayarit. The St. Regis Resort, Punta Mita will open this fall with 120 guest units and 3,200 square feet of meeting space, and Iberostar Hotels & Resorts is building three hotels in the Litibu area, the first of which will open this year with 560 guest rooms. Los Veneros will be a new resort area on the Banderas Bay coast, scheduled for completion by the end of 2009. It will offer a small boutique hotel, a spa and conference rooms. Additionally, investors are pouring $118 million into tourism developments in Punta Raza, including eight hotels, 950 homes, a golf course, and a marina. The first phase, including two hotels—a Park Hyatt and a Grand Hyatt as well as residences—is scheduled to open in 2011.
Meanwhile, construction continues on the new convention center in the Riviera Nayarit marina area, scheduled to open in July 2009. The facility will have the capacity for 4,000 people.
In Mazatlan, the Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay Resort will open a 15,000-square-foot spa next January, while Hydra Properties recently broke ground on its $500 million Hydra Waves project in Mazatlan. The development will include a 500-room hotel and a 1,000-seat conference center. Later this year, Riu will break ground on the 716-room Hotel Riu Mazatlan. The hotel is scheduled to open in May 2009.
New projects in Ixtapa include the Viceroy Hotel at La Ropa Beach, slated to open later this year.
Mexican Caribbean
In Cancun, the Aqua Cancun debuted last year with 371 guest rooms, and the Marina El Cid Riviera Maya recently opened in Puerto Morelos with meeting facilities for up to 500. The Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort will debut this summer.
In the Riviera Maya, approximately 2,600 guest rooms were added in 2007 and more are on the way.
The recently opened Mandarin Oriental offers 128 villas, indoor and outdoor meeting space and a 25,000-square-foot spa. Maya Colonial debuted last December with a convention center and a spa.
The Tres Rios master plan will include five hotels with more than 1,700 suites on 326 acres of land, with a spa, a marina, a yacht club, a convention center, and a nature park. Hacienda Tres Rios, with 273 luxury suites, will open this summer.
Banyan Tree Mayakoba will open later this year, and Kanay Riviera Maya will feature 847 hotel rooms when it is unveiled in 2009.
