AMAR Facts: Can Quintana Roo emulates Florida´s success?

By René Martinez | AMAR Staff

With only 46 years of existences, Cancun is known as the crown jewel of the Mexican tourism and acknowledged by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as a world-class destination. The secret behind its success comes from its beginning, when in 1967 Enrique Savinago y Pedro Dondé Escalante, included Cancun in a list of recommended areas to the Federal Government because of their potential to developed and exploited as a tourism destination. Thus, operation in Cancun began in 1974 as part of the Integrally Planned Centers Program, in charge of the Tourism Infrastructure and Promotion Fund (INFRATUR by its initials in Spanish) currently known as National Fund for Tourism Promotion (FONATUR by its initials in Spanish).

Lifestyle in Cancun

Being Cancun developed as a planned city, it´s infrastructure, and service – tourism vocation, the lifestyle in the area differs to that in other historical retirement destination like Ajijic or San Miguel de Allende. Cancun potential aims to all of those who are in search of an active and independent retirement lifestyle in the Mexican Caribbean, and this lifestyle is accompanied by a purchasing power superior to that of many ex-pats in other regions of Mexico:

Cancun International Airport

A clear statistic of the potential Cancun offers to the development of Retirement Communities is that only in 2017, more than 1.4M of Americans and Canadians 50 years of age or older, arrived at the International Airport of Cancun, this is 62% more when compared to 2012 when the airport reported a flow of 890 thousand.

In addition to the potential generated by Americans and Canadians, the high degree of connectivity of the Cancun International Airport should be considered as an opportunity to attract older adults from other highly attractive regions such as Europe, specifically, the United Kingdom. With the uncertainty caused by the Brexit and the lack of certainty in the English population of free mobility to the beaches of the Mediterranean, it is hoped that Mexico and its beaches gain popularity between the British population as a retirement destination.

Real Estate Market – Yucatan Peninsula – The Mexican’s Florida.

For years the state of Florida has positioned itself as the most important retirement destination in the United States and Canada following a simple formula: beach + affordable lifestyle. Quintana Roo can learn from Florida´s case, take advantage of the 237 miles of road that goes from Cancun to Chetumal and start the development of eco-friendly Retirement Communities at much higher sales prices that many in other regions of Mexico.

Now that we know the vast number of 50+ Americans and Canadians who yearly visit Cancun, the opportunity that the Brexit is handling and an estimate of the purchasing power these consumers have, all that it´s left its for developers to take initiative and start with a correct Market Analysis, design an Architectural Proposal and develop a Financial Business Model that satisfy both the needs of the residents and the interest of the developers.

• For more information and assistance in the development of Retirement Communities, contact AMAR Consulting by sending us an email to info@amar.org.mx or call us in the United States at (619) 564-40-07 or in Mexico at (664) 621- 03-33.