The Mexican tourism agency behind the development of major resorts such as Cancun and Los Cabos is now setting its sights on the sparsely populated Gulf of California region for its next mega-project.
Miguel Gómez Montt, director general of Fonatur, said in an interview with the Union-Tribune that his agency is studying 10 areas on the gulf, hoping to “choose one and promote it.”
“We need to build three Cancuns, and we are analyzing where we could do so, and one of them could be in this zone,” said Mr Gómez Montt.
Baja California is one of the four states being studied for the possible project.
In Baja California, Fonatur is focusing on the area between Bahia San Luis Gonzaga and Bahia de los Angeles on the states’ east coast. The region is known for its stark beauty and broad vistas of the Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez.
The sparsely populated gulf is prized by environmentalists and scientists for its rich marine life and many endemic species, said the newspaper.
In 2005, 244 islands in the gulf were designated a United Nations World Heritage site. Earlier this year, President Felipe Calderon’s administration designated the marine region off Bahia de los Angeles as a Biosphere Reserve.
“We have heard many stories of mega-projects in the Gulf of California, but it’s clear that they are not viable,” said Gustavo Danemann, executive director of Pronatura Noroeste, a branch of Mexico’s oldest and largest environmental organization.
A scarce water supply limits development in much of the region, and desalination has yet to be a proven as a large-scale solution, Danemann said. In addition, “any project would have to comply with environmental regulations,” he said. Environmental groups for years have been critical of another Fonatur project, the Escalera Nautica, which was launched in 2001 by former President Vicente Fox.
The plan originally envisioned attracting 50,000 boats and 1 million tourists annually to the region though a series of 28 linked marinas and an 80-mile road to tow boats across the middle of the peninsula, between Santa Rosalillita on Baja California’s Pacific Coast and Bahia de los Angeles.
The plan was later renamed Proyecto Mar de Cortes and significantly downscaled. Report by David Wilkening
