The tourism industry in Mexico is quite a solid and thriving one. Indeed, industry sources already claim the fact that tourism is now the fourth largest contributing sector to the economy of Mexico north of $ 100 billion a year today or more than 10% of GDP. Consequently, in terms of both national and international tourism receipts standing at close to $ 50 billion currently, tourism in Mexico stands ahead of remittances which now amounts to approximately $ 30 billion a year. Moreover, the origin of this growth was made in the early 1970s primarily by implementation of government promotion and sponsorship to develop areas with outstanding potential in Mexico such as Cancún. Since then, although initially surpassed by Cozumel in terms of size, Cancún became an excellent example of how government policy geared towards expanding and diversifying its economy is a clever maneuver possessing enormous value. Today, the area encompassing Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos in the state of Quintana Roo is responsible for at least a third of tourism receipts in Mexico containing a total surpassing 100,000 guest rooms and where roughly half of them come from Cancún alone. Similarly, other Mexican areas that were developed in the same fashion are Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Mazatlán and Los Cabos facing the Pacific Ocean rather than the Caribbean. Accordingly, there are over 500,000 guest rooms in Mexico employing both directly and indirectly around 2 million Mexican nationals and servicing over 40 million foreign tourist visitors a year. By the same token, this bonanza has created a lot of value and is prudent for me to mention the major players in Mexico I think are responsible for making it happened. These players are the following:
Grupo Posadas S.A.B de C.V.: mammoth hotel franchisor in Mexico employing around 30,000 people directly while managing over 120 properties, 6 brands including the flagship known as “Fiesta Americana” and servicing close to 25,000 guest rooms. The company trades in Mexico, generates around $ 2 billion a year in sales and is controlled jointly by Alfredo Harp Helú and the Azcárraga Andrade family.
Grupo Vidanta S.A. de C.V.: resort developer and franchisor previously known as “Mayan Resorts”. Today, although closely-held and belonging to Daniel Chávez Morán, the company owns and/or manages 25 properties containing and/or servicing some 15,000 guest rooms and 7 brands while employing around 20,000 workers. In addition, the company operates its own airport in the Mexican state of Sonora known as the “Mar de Cortés International Airport” as well as several golf courses attached to some of its properties while making over $ 1 billion a year in sales.
AM Resorts LLC: subsidiary of Apple Leisure Group Corporation of the US. The company manages 32 properties including locations in the Caribbean besides Mexico servicing some 10,000 guest rooms and 5 brands while employing around 15,000 workers. The company makes over $ 500 million a year in sales. Alejandro Zozaya Gorostiza presides over the company and owns part of it after being his idea to develop the brands.
Palace Resorts S.A. de C.V.: prominent Mexican resort developing empire that was split in two just recently after the owners parted ways. These owners are José Chapur Zahoul and the Chapur Duarte brothers. It is believed that although the partition was equal, José Chapur Zahoul kept excellent iconic properties and the name itself of the company. Today, Palace Resorts owns and operates 10 properties including one in Jamaica and a giant resort in Cancún with 3,407 guest rooms and a golf course known as the “Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort”. The company is privately-held while employing approximately 10,000 workers containing over 6,000 guest rooms and generating around $ 4 billion a year in sales. The properties belonging to the Chapur Duarte brothers are managed separately by Hard Rock International Corporation including one property outside of Mexico in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic.
Royal Resorts Group Corporation: the company represents a foreign direct investment. It has 6 properties held in its Mexican portfolio comprising around 2,000 guest rooms located throughout Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos, all of them within the boundaries of the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.
Grupo Real Turismo S.A.B. de C.V.: prominent hotel franchisor and wholly-owned subsidiary of Grupo Empresarial Ángeles S.A. de C.V. The entity holds a total of 41 properties servicing close to 15,000 guest rooms throughout the whole Mexican landscape including an American hotel located in El Paso, Texas while managing 3 brands including the flagship known as “Camino Real”. Moreover, the company employs around 20,000 workers while making approximately $ 1 billion a year in sales. In addition, the company is owned completely by prominent Mexican businessman Olegario Vázquez Raña.
Pueblo Bonito Golf & Spa Resorts: resort developer currently being the industry leader in both Los Cabos and Mazatlán. The company is privately-owned by Ernesto Coppel Kelly after being under his Mexican established concern known as Operadora de Inmuebles Los Arcos S.A. de C.V. Moreover, it comprises 6 properties containing more than 2,500 guest rooms while employing over 5,000 workers and generating around $ 2 billion a year in sales. In addition, the developer owns various full ownership and time-share communities along with a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus in Los Cabos. The latter is part of a group of properties structured separately and focused on golfers comprising an all-inclusive, vast and luxurious complex known as the “Quivira Los Cabos”.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico S.A.B. de C.V.: second largest operator of airports in Mexico including the international airports of popular tourist visitor destinations such as Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta facing the Pacific Ocean. Likewise, controlled by the Diez Barroso clan, the company trades in Mexico and here in America as an ADR on the NYSE under the ticker symbol (PAC). Altogether, the company runs 12 airports in Mexico and 2 in Jamaica while servicing over 25 million passengers a year. In addition, Laura Diez Barroso chairs the board executing tight supervision of the airport operator along with her brother Emilio Diez Barroso.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste S.A.B. de C.V.: third largest airport operator in Mexico servicing destinations facing the Gulf of Mexico including the state of Quintana Roo in the Yucatán Peninsula which includes the concessions for the Cancún and Cozumel international airports. The company trades in Mexico and here in the US as an ADR on the NYSE under the ticker symbol (ASR). Moreover, the company services over 20 million passengers a year after operating one of the busiest airports on Mexican ground in Cancún. In addition, the company operates 9 airports in Mexico, 6 in Colombia and the one in San Juan, Puerto Rico while being controlled by rising Mexican entrepreneur Fernando Chico Pardo who also chairs the board accordingly.
To conclude, other heavy hitters in the Mexican tourism industry are the brothers Alberto and Manuel Saba Ades, controlling shareholders of Mexican wholesaler Grupo Casa Saba S.A. de C.V., Carlos Slim Helú and the Quintana clan. Moreover, Alberto and Manuel Saba Ades own properties in Cancún, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara through their wholly-owned real estate holding known as Grupo Xtra S.A. de C.V. In fact, the well-known “CasaMagna Marriott” hotels in Cancún and Puerto Vallarta are owned by them. Carlos Slim Helú, on the other hand, operates and manages 9 properties dispersed widely throughout the entire Mexican geography including one property outside of Mexico in Orlando, Florida through OSTAR Grupo Hotelero S.A. de C.V. belonging in its entirety to his publicly-traded real estate arm known as Inmuebles Carso S.A.B. de C.V. Similarly, the Quintana family controls the fourth largest airport operator in Mexico known as Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte S.A.B. de C.V. which services 13 airport concessions in Mexico including the ones of busy seaside resort destinations like Acapulco and Mazatlán.