La Eufemia, one of the best-known taquerías on Tulum's beach road, is closing, and a farewell video from its owner has spread across social media as the resort town's tourism crisis deepens.
The message came from César Ortiz, the businessman who built the venue into a fixture of the hotel zone. Dated June 10, his goodbye resurfaced with force on July 21, pulling a private farewell into a very public argument about what has gone wrong in Tulum.
The shutdown of a place that helped put the town's coastline on the international map has become a flashpoint. For many residents and visitors, the closing reads less like a single business failing and more like a symptom of a destination in trouble.
A June farewell resurfaces in July
In the clip, Ortiz thanks God for the chance to have served his customers. He credits locals, visitors, and the organizers of the holistic events that gave the beach club international reach.
"Brothers, I'll see you around soon, God bless you, until soon," he says at the end, bowing to the camera.
The recording is several weeks old. It circulated again this week, and many users said the closing caught them off guard. The venue sits on the Tulum to Boca Paila road, in the stretch of beachfront restaurants and clubs that drew the crowds Tulum built its reputation on.
The man behind La Eufemia, and the videos that divided Tulum
Ortiz is a familiar face in the destination. He is also a polarizing one, and the reaction to his farewell cannot be separated from that history.
He appeared alongside Tulum's mayor in a video defending free public access to the beaches, though the same message specified that visitors could not bring in their own food or drinks. That clip stuck with people who saw a contradiction between an open shoreline and a closed cooler.
Another video went further. Riding a bicycle, Ortiz dismissed those who complained about overpricing or the town's decline, taunting critics in crude terms and telling them the good weather, empty beaches, and lower rates of the low season were theirs to enjoy if they simply came back. To supporters it was confidence. To detractors it was the arrogance of a boom that had stopped paying off.
Supporters and critics collide in the comments
The farewell split the audience almost immediately.
Critics replayed his past statements. "Wasn't he the one who said you couldn't bring in coolers, and then showed up with the mayor," one commenter wrote. Another was blunter, throwing his high-season bravado back at him now that the doors were closing.
Others rushed to defend him. "You've come back from worse, César. You can do it, your team can do it, you're resilient," one wrote. "La Eufemia, my favorite place on the beach," said another. A third added, "I'm so sorry it turned out this way. We'll miss it terribly, and I hope you can come back soon."
A separate group used the moment to describe what they had seen with their own eyes. "I went to Tulum yesterday. There isn't a soul. It is very sad to see such a beautiful place, once so on trend, fall into the worst decline," one visitor wrote. "Sadly the situation is very hard in Tulum, and it's a shame you have to reach this point too," said another, wishing the owner well.
Sales down as much as 60 percent this summer
The reaction lands against a backdrop that is no longer in dispute. Business owners in the gastronomy sector say sales have fallen by up to 60 percent, which ties the collapse to record sargassum, high service costs, and expensive rents.
The seaweed is central to the story. Arrivals this year are running at nearly double last year's volume, and 37 of 40 monitored beaches in Quintana Roo were showing excessive sargassum levels, roughly 92 percent of the evaluated coastline. Tourist arrivals have dropped, and the damage reaches past the beachfront into downtown shops and the suppliers who serve them.
Against those numbers, the loss of a single taquería is small. As a signal, it is not. La Eufemia was not a struggling newcomer. It was an established name with an international following, and its exit tells regular visitors that the places they associate with Tulum are not immune.
No reopening date, and no sign the exodus is over
Ortiz did not give a date, a reason, or a plan. His "until soon" leaves the door open to a return, but nothing in the message confirms one, and he has not detailed whether the closing is temporary or final.
What remains is a beachfront that keeps thinning out and a public still arguing over blame. Some fault the sargassum and the prices. Others fault the operators who, like Ortiz, spent the good years dismissing the warnings. The next weeks of high season will show whether La Eufemia's farewell was an isolated goodbye or one more name on a growing list.
Do you think La Eufemia will reopen, or is its closing a warning of what is still to come for Tulum's beach zone? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes .
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