Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of parties take place in this city, mainly at the beginning of each year. The party never stops, nor does the lavish display of luxury and style… although all of this is starting to come at a very high price.
Exactly a decade ago, the town of Tulum received the designation of Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town), which helped give a significant boost to national and international tourism, which until then had focused primarily on the area’s paradisiacal beaches, as well as its archaeological ruins and cenotes, all set against an enviable backdrop of landscapes teeming with flora and fauna.
Over time, the first electronic music parties, or raves, began to be held there, thanks to DJs, collectives, and enthusiasts of the genre, who saw this destination as the ideal place to experience what marketing experts call exclusive “experiences.”
It was in 2020 when, with the exodus caused by the pandemic, many European and North American citizens chose this place to relocate, either temporarily or permanently, thus increasing global interest in this tourist destination.
José Guadalupe, a Yucatecan who arrived in the town in 1992 and works in the hotel industry, recalls that before Tulum’s tourism boom, there wasn’t even electricity in the area, because the city’s priority was maintaining its natural habitat in optimal condition and serving solely as a place to disconnect.
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One of the richest natural areas in this part of the country is the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, located 140 kilometers from Cancún and 10 kilometers from Tulum, covering an area of more than 500,000 hectares belonging to the municipalities of Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Tulum.
This reserve, home to archaeological sites, endemic species, and coral reefs, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. However, this didn’t stop the tourism industry from expanding, along with changes in land use and numerous real estate developments. These developments gave rise to a premium tourism industry, catering only to those who could afford a certain level of goods and services.
José Guadalupe recalls being told one day that a fire had broken out in part of the reserve, affecting 20 hectares of land… the same spot where, a couple of years later, a luxury hotel was built.
With the influx of people during the pandemic, it became necessary not only to bring electricity but also internet access, shopping malls, galleries, boutiques, spas, beach clubs, hotels in the middle of the jungle, and new residential areas geared not only towards tourists but also to the digital nomads who came to work or study here.
In 2024, the area had another reason to continue growing, thanks to the construction of the Maya Train, which included two stations in this zone—Tulum and Tulum Airport—as part of then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s policy to economically revitalize southern Mexico, despite numerous concerns about the lack of information regarding the environmental impact of constructing and operating a project of this magnitude.
At the beginning of 2026, the announcement everywhere was for the arrival of a Comercial Mexicana supermarket, heavily promoted on billboards, television, and social media. “La Comer has arrived. A new vibe is rising in Tulum,” the ads proclaimed, primarily targeting the so-called “Tuluminati,” that is, the most privileged residents and visitors.
Even so, the previous year stood out as a particularly difficult one for tourist arrivals to the area. Throughout the year, videos and social media posts showed a practically deserted city, with dozens of businesses closed, due to the presence of sargassum seaweed on the beaches, but also, according to many of these posts, to the exorbitant prices that have plagued Tulum for some time.
On the other hand, it’s well known that despite a law prohibiting the privatization of beaches, public beaches in the tourist zone are inaccessible to those not staying at hotels. That’s Tulum, too.
Amidst all the growth this city has experienced, similar to that of other destinations in the area like Cancún and Playa del Carmen, organized crime and the insecurity it brings have also arrived.
José Guadalupe tells me that there is a certain level of insecurity in Tulum, but he adds, “Just like everywhere else,” something we’ve seen as a constant in local and national news for some years now. Every so often, whether in high or low season, we hear about a victim who was killed in a fight, at a party, or at a music festival.
Just take a look at the reports some media outlets are publishing on this topic:
“A man was found dead on the morning of January 1, 2019, near the Zamna cenote south of Tulum, Quintana Roo,” Warp reported in 2019.
“Violence in paradise: Two tourists died in Tulum after being caught in the crossfire of a hitman attack,” La Nación published in 2021.
“Man murdered during festival in Tulum,” this newspaper reported on January 9.
“Death of Argentine tourist confirmed after armed attack in Tulum cenote,” Caribe Peninsular added on January 11.
It’s not widespread violence, it must be said. The atmosphere in the city is generally calm, but reports of this kind continue to surface from time to time, just as in almost every corner of the country. In any case, Tulum has gone from being an exception to becoming part of the statistics.
The murder that occurred near the event caused alarm among attendees, although the party continued as normal.
Just two days before the news broke of the murder of a man inside or outside—there are conflicting accounts—Tehmplo, where DJ Solomun was performing, we spoke with the event’s producer, Luca Pastor, Head of Operations and partner at Lostnights. He assured several media outlets that the event had private security, in addition to municipal guards, state police, and members of the Navy.
Even so, the incident caused alarm among attendees who learned of it at that moment, although the party continued as normal. As of press time, the event organizers had not issued a statement regarding the incident.
Lostnights, one of the companies that produces a sister event called Day Zero, publishes numerous articles about their sustainable practices, including recovering materials that are no longer useful to nature, measuring their carbon footprint, carrying out community outreach, and leaving the festival grounds “even better than we found them,” according to their Sustainability Director, Grace Barros.
Is it possible to create a massive festival that is also eco-friendly? The organizers of Lostnights tell me yes.
This sustainable approach, which avoids the use of plastics or uses recycled ones, is not only necessary but essential amidst the capitalist frenzy that seems to be sweeping away everything potentially marketable in Tulum. At the same time, these events, geared towards “premium tourism,” feature VIP areas where a table can cost up to 1.5 million pesos and bottles of alcohol start at 10,000 pesos.
Federal Government Opens Public Access to Beaches in Tulum
Two access points to Jaguar Park have been opened so that foreign and domestic tourists can visit the four beaches 365 days a year.
Trying to determine whether luxury tourism is elitist or merely structurally exclusionary, we must first understand this type of tourism as an activity characterized by low visitor density, high spending per visitor, personalized services, high-quality infrastructure, and intensive use of natural, cultural, and human resources.
From the perspective of the World Tourism Organization, this model seeks to maximize economic value per visitor and minimize volume, which, in theory, reduces pressure on destinations that require special care, as is the case with Tulum.
Ideologically speaking, premium tourism is not elitist because there is no discourse that maintains that some groups are superior to others. However, these models are indeed exclusionary in practice because, by raising the prices of hotels, restaurants, rents, transport and land, they displace local populations and lower-income tourists, generating what urban planners call “tourist gentrification,” of which, according to experts, cities like Tulum, Bali, Ibiza and Santorini are clear examples.
Source: oem
