Tulum's hotel sector told President Claudia Sheinbaum it is ready to help drive the destination's tourism recovery, as a deepening slump squeezes the small coastal businesses that depend most on visitors.
The appeal landed as the federal government rolls out Plan Tulum Renace, a ten-point strategy presented on July 17, and it laid bare a widening divide inside the local industry. Large hotels are holding on. The smaller, independently run properties along the coast are not, and their difficulty travels outward to restaurants, tour operators, and the workers who rely on a steady flow of guests.
A widening gap between big chains and small hotels
During a working meeting on Tulum with the president, David Ortiz Mena, president of the Tulum Hotel Association, acknowledged federal and state efforts but called the current picture complicated. According to reports from his members, large hotels and chains with structured sales channels are operating at 40 to 45 percent occupancy.
Small coastal hotels tell a different story. Many run on the European plan, without bundled meals or in-house tour sales, and they are registering occupancy of just 15 to 20 percent. Ortiz Mena said the gap points to a specific loss. The visitors who move around the destination, reaching beaches, paying for attractions, and spending in local businesses, are the ones who have thinned out. When they stop coming, the effect runs down the chain to restaurants, shops, tour operators, workers, and surrounding communities. The strain follows a season that hoteliers across the region have described as one of the toughest in years.
Sargassum adds pressure in the low season
The seasonal downturn is not the only weight on the sector. Ortiz Mena described this year's sargassum arrivals as "monumental," and said their overlap with the low season makes it unsustainable for the private sector to cover the full cost of cleaning and maintaining the beaches on its own. The seaweed influx has ranked among the region's most persistent complaints through 2026, alongside worries over public image and security.
Even with that diagnosis, the hotel leader kept his tone constructive. "We are not here to assign blame. We are here to add and to contribute so that the announced actions produce results," he said. He added that Tulum's hotels are willing to keep investing, training staff, and taking part in joint work with authorities.
What the Tulum tourism recovery plan includes
Plan Tulum Renace was presented by Tourism Secretary Josefina Rodríguez Zamora during President Sheinbaum's morning news conference, with Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama also taking part. The package groups ten actions, several of them centered on access and cost. Entry to Parque del Jaguar becomes free for Mexican nationals, and archaeological zone fees drop to 80 pesos for Mexicans and 265 pesos for foreign visitors. The plan also lists ten public beach accesses, an electric mobility system inside the park, expanded sargassum cleanup, a National Guard tourist protection model, professional certification for service providers, new parking at the southern access, upgrades to public services and transport in the town, a national and international promotion campaign, and new air routes.
Former hotel leaders say the plan is only a start
The rollout drew a quick response from figures who have led the region's hotel associations. Roberto Cintrón Gómez and Abelardo Vara Rivera, both former presidents of the Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres Hotel Association, agreed that the ten actions mark a beginning rather than a finished agenda.
Cintrón Gómez pointed to three priorities he considers essential: promotion, advertising, and security for visitors. Vara Rivera argued that "important topics have to be added," naming tourism promotion, security, customs, local authorities, infrastructure, and sargassum among the gaps he sees.
Their comments reflect a concern within part of the sector that Plan Tulum Renace leans heavily on access measures and reduced fares while leaving out broader work on promotion, on the perception of insecurity, and on structural problems such as the seaweed that keeps returning to the coast.
What comes next will test whether lower fees and freer beach access are enough to bring back the independent traveler Tulum's smallest hotels depend on. The hoteliers have offered to share the load. The open question is whether the plan will grow to cover promotion, security, and sargassum before the next high season arrives.
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