The checkpoint wall at the main entrance to Parque del Jaguar will come down this year, replaced by a federal tourist corridor that promises faster entry and permanent stalls for local artisans.
Tourism Secretary Josefina Rodríguez Zamora announced the project during a working tour of the park and the Tulum archaeological zone on Thursday, August 6, three weeks after President Claudia Sheinbaum's government launched the Tulum Renace program from Tulum itself. Construction is scheduled to start before the end of 2026, once the executive project now being drafted is finished.
The announcement lands on the most disputed ground in the park. The booths and the barrier around them have drawn complaints from visitors, guides, and vendors since the current access scheme took effect, and they sit at the center of the longer argument over who controls the gateway to the ruins and the beaches. For anyone who has stood in that line in August heat, this is the piece of Tulum Renace that would change the visit itself.
The wall comes down, and the entry booths get rebuilt
The plan calls for demolishing the current barrier, rebuilding the booths, and reorganizing vehicle and pedestrian circulation so that national and foreign visitors clear the entrance faster. The stated goals are better mobility, ordered commerce along the access road, and a stronger first impression of the site.
"We are going to take down this wall, as we call it. The booths will be renovated, and we will give dignified spaces to our artisans and our organized service providers," Rodríguez Zamora said.
The timing rests on paperwork. The executive project is still in development, and the secretary said crews will move in once it is complete, within this year.
Permanent stalls for artisans inside the Parque del Jaguar corridor
The commercial half of the project carries as much weight as the demolition. The corridor will include built spaces where artisans, merchants, and organized service providers can sell in better conditions, a group that has worked the access road through every version of the park's management.
Rodríguez Zamora framed the stalls inside a larger promise. The transformation of Tulum, she said, means improving the visitor experience, strengthening service quality, protecting the site's heritage, and generating what she called "shared prosperity for the communities."
10 percent more visitors, three weeks into Tulum Renace
The secretary used the tour to claim early results. Tourism-sector reports cited by Rodríguez Zamora put visitor arrivals about 10 percent above previous periods since the program launched on July 17 as a package of federal commitments for the destination.
"We are not settling. We want more tourists, always. That comes from promoting the destination, from word of mouth, and from all the tourism infrastructure on the way," she said.
The visit doubled as a coordination exercise. Rodríguez Zamora walked the park with Gen. Ricardo Flores González, director general of Grupo Mundo Maya, held review sessions with tourism-sector representatives, and sat down with officials from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp), the agencies whose overlapping roles have defined the park's short and complicated institutional life.
A training day for the people at the gates
The same trip included a professionalization session for the park's operating staff, drawing personnel from INAH, Conanp, and Grupo Mundo Maya. The courses covered hospitality, visitor communication, accessible tourism, care for priority groups, and digital tools. Permanent training, the secretary said, is one of the pillars of the plan.
Free beaches, 80 pesos for the ruins
Rodríguez Zamora repeated the access rules now in force. Entry to the park is free for Mexican visitors, a condition set by presidential decree, and they pay only if they step into the archaeological zone. She added that reaching the beaches and the park's public areas costs nothing for visitors who skip the ruins.
The archaeological site keeps a fee schedule the federal government describes as a historic reduction, meant to open the biocultural heritage to more people:
- Mexican visitors pay 80 pesos, with free entry on Sundays.
- Foreign visitors pay 265 pesos.
- The ticket includes access to the protected natural area.
No budget until the executive project is finished
The number missing from the announcement is the price. The federal government confirmed that work begins this year, but the total investment has no figure yet, because it depends on the executive project and the technical studies still under way.
Sectur says it will publish the budget once those studies close. Until then, the corridor exists on paper, and the firmest commitment on the table is a calendar: demolition at the park entrance before 2026 ends.
Will a new corridor fix the entrance experience at Parque del Jaguar? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.