Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo formally installed Tulum's Municipal Tourism Advisory Council on June 10, creating a permanent forum where city hall and local business leaders will coordinate strategies to manage and promote the destination's growth through 2027.
The council fills a structural gap that has long complicated tourism governance in the municipality: decisions about promotion, competitiveness, and sustainability have historically been made without a standing mechanism for private-sector input. The new body gives that input an official channel.
Who sits on the Tulum tourism advisory council
The council operates as a consultative and participatory body, drawing membership from two tracks. On one side, directors-general from the Ayuntamiento de Tulum represent the institutional side of the equation. On the other, local entrepreneurs and tourism industry representatives bring the perspective of the businesses that generate the bulk of the municipality's economic activity.
The term runs from 2024 to 2027, aligned with the current municipal administration. Members were sworn in during the installation ceremony, where Mayor Castañón Trejo addressed the body directly.
"Working together will always allow us to deliver better results for the population, which is ultimately what drives us as a government, with actions that raise the quality of life for the people of Tulum," he said.
Three priorities for the 2024–2027 term
The council's stated agenda organizes around three areas. Economic development is the first, with a mandate to generate proposals that support the orderly growth of tourism, the municipality's primary industry. The second priority is global competitiveness: designing plans to strengthen the Tulum brand in national and international markets. The third is sustainability, pushing for a model that is ordered, inclusive, and environmentally responsible.
That combination reflects the tension at the center of Tulum's tourism economy. The destination has grown fast enough to strain infrastructure, natural resources, and the social fabric of surrounding communities, while remaining the engine that most local livelihoods depend on. The council is positioned, at least formally, to hold both realities in view.
How the council will operate in practice
According to the official record, the council will function as a platform for evaluating proposals from all participating sectors before they reach the policy stage. The stated goal is to translate tourism revenue into concrete social benefits for residents across the municipality.
What that means in practice will depend on how the body structures its sessions, which proposals it prioritizes, and whether its recommendations carry weight in the budget and planning processes of the Ayuntamiento. The installation established the council's existence and membership; its operational rules and calendar were not detailed in the official report.
A council installed as the tourism sector searches for stability
The timing is notable. Tulum's tourism sector has faced pressure from declining arrivals, infrastructure bottlenecks, and ongoing uncertainty about development projects that have altered the character of the destination. A coordinating body between government and industry could address some of that pressure, provided it produces actionable recommendations rather than advisory statements with no binding effect.
The administration has not announced when the council will hold its first working session or which issues will appear on the initial agenda.
Do you think a public-private tourism council can make a real difference for Tulum residents, or does the destination need stronger regulatory tools first? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.