In addition to sun and beach, Cancun will offer a new and frozen experience starting August 1, when the “Happi Arena” begins operations, an ice skating rink that, due to its size and being Olympic-type, is considered the largest in Latin America and the first in Mexico.
Located in the Grand Outlet Riviera Maya, a shopping center located south of the city, the rink has a surface area of 1,800 square meters, with a capacity of 150 skaters and 400 spectators.
Its opening adds to the entertainment offer for tourists and residents, but also for professional NHL teams during their preseason.
“It is a new type of tourism, it is a watershed for Cancun, because it is no longer just a sun and beach destination. It becomes a destination for ice sports and it is something new,” said Jesús Alcántara Rodríguez, founder of Mexico Warriors Ice Hockey Club and promoter of this rink.
With him, Vladimir Mayllen Vera, for Grand Outlet Riviera Maya and Alejandro Luna, director of the Municipal Institute of Sports, headed today the presentation of the new attraction, whose investment reaches 5 million dollars and hopes to attract 60 thousand visitors annually, from Mexico, the United States and Canada.
In a press conference, they agreed that the rink will add a new dimension to the local tourist and sports panorama, supported by the USA Hockey organization, in addition to the creation of a collegiate hockey league, as part of its contribution to recreation and sports.
In addition, artistic skating, hockey, curly and paralympic hockey can be practiced on this rink.
Its formal inauguration is scheduled for September of this year, with an international hockey game, in which the Mexico Warriors Ice Hockey Club would participate, said the director, Jesús Alcántara.
Alejandro Luna stressed that, with the rink, hockey will be added to the 38 sports disciplines that take place in the city and even mentioned that the creation of a local team could begin.
He added that the mayor of Benito Juárez, Ana Patricia Peralta, has already visited the place and was able to witness the light show that the rink includes, which will positively contribute to the social integration of the community.
Alcántara Rodríguez explained that there are two types of ice rinks, the professional and the Olympic. This one corresponds in size – 60 meters long by 30 meters wide – to the one opened in Cancún, as part of a dream that began to take shape in 2018.
The rink will be open from Monday to Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., but Fridays and Saturdays will have an extra from 8:15 p.m. to 11 p.m.: the Disco Nights, when retro music will be programmed, with robotic light shows, so that it becomes a kind of dance floor.
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The entrance ticket for residents of Quintana Roo reaches 450 pesos –not counting skate rental– unlimited.
“My dream is that the Mayan culture has the opportunity to practice ice. A campaign to donate protective hockey equipment has already begun in the United States and Canada; they are going to give us skates, helmets, a lot of equipment, because it is an expensive sport,” she said.
Mayllen Vera responded that an agreement has been signed with the Taxi Drivers Union “Andrés Quintana Roo” to find transportation schemes that make it easier for Cancun residents to move from the city to the enormous and remote shopping center.
Talks are also underway with ADO to create routes from Cancun, the International Airport and Playa del Carmen.
Source: eluniversal
