A new entity called the State Fund for Tourism Promotion (Foestur) would carry out the maintenance functions of the hotel zone.
The first half of 2024 has practically ended without the formation of the substitute body for the National Fund for Tourism Promotion (Fonatur), which should be responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of the hotel zone of Cancún, in addition to other functions and programs that were left pending.
In February of this year, Fonatur announced that it was leaving the Fully Planned Center (CIP) Cancún in the hands of the state and municipal authorities of Quintana Roo, but did not explain what would happen with the execution of several pending projects for which it even requested and was assigned resources by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.
The quarterly report on the physical progress of the investment programs and projects released by the Ministry of Finance establishes that the agency left pending the completion of the Maintenance Program, through which the current infrastructure and equipment of the Fully Planned Center (CIP) Cancún and Marina Cozumel are intervened, corresponding to urbanization works (storm and sanitary drainage, public lighting, roads), head works (wastewater treatment plants), urban and tourist equipment works (public areas and urban furniture), and landscape architecture and urban design (irrigation network and green areas).
Although it was scheduled to be carried out between 2021 and 2023, by the first quarter of 2024, a 61.3% physical progress is reported and a budget for this year of 67 million pesos, of which 13 million have been exercised.
Another pending project is the strategies to alleviate the mobility problem in the hotel zone of Cancún, derived from a study carried out in 2022 at a cost of 3.7 million pesos.
This is through a request for resources to the Treasury, in which it was anticipated that a car journey along the Kukulcán boulevard in the hotel zone of Cancún takes an average time of 53 minutes from kilometer zero to 28, with an average speed of 32 kilometers per hour.
At that time, Fonatur anticipated that if the current operational trends continue, speeds will decrease, causing longer transfer times for both residents and tourists, the likelihood of a greater number of accidents, as well as an increase in vehicle operating costs, environmental deterioration, and noise pollution, among others. Once the studies are completed, Fonatur would determine the improvement strategies to avoid vehicular congestion, independent of the Nichupté Bridge that is currently being built as part of the solutions to traffic in the hotel zone of Cancún, as read in the resource request submitted to the Treasury.
Other actions for which Fonatur requested resources are the modernization and expansion of the “El Rey” Wastewater Treatment Plant, also in the hotel zone of Cancún; the rehabilitation of the public park of Playa Pez Volador; the rehabilitation and maintenance of Malecón Tajamar; the rehabilitation of the public park of Playa Tortugas and Playa Coral; the latter have not had resources exercised during this 2024.
Last March, it was announced that the state entity that would resume the functions and responsibilities that Fonatur left at the beginning of the year in the hands of the government of Quintana Roo was almost ready. It was even mentioned that it would handle an annual budget of between 150 and 180 million pesos.
The state secretary of Tourism, Bernardo Cueto, revealed that this new trust would carry out the maintenance functions of the hotel zone. It will also manage the federal government’s land reserve in Cancún, which will be transferred to this new entity.
The tentative name for the new entity is the State Fund for Tourism Promotion (Foestur), with the participation of private initiatives and state authorities in the governing body.
The official then assured that there would be no layoffs, as the same workers who were part of Fonatur will continue working on the cleaning and maintenance of the hotel zone, but now under the command of the state government.
However, after the first half of 2024, the creation of this new entity has not been finalized, nor has information been provided about what will happen with the pending resources and programs that Fonatur left behind after abandoning its responsibilities in Cancún last February.
Source: El Economista
