Business in Paradise - April 2003

You don’t need to arrive here by private jet to be able to enjoy paradise just as much as Carlos Slim, one of the distinguished wealthy Mexican businessmen who chose to entertain important visitors at home in Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo. Israel’s most venerable living politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres and Spanish ex-Prime Minister Felipe González, who is an important consultant to governments not only in Mexico, but all over Latin America, were recent guests (January 11th). The Mexican President, Vicente Fox, spent last New Year in Ixtapa and the tourism Minister, Leticia Navarro, has her holiday condo here as well. Not to mention the many celebrities from Hollywood and around the world who vacation at Villa del Sol and La Casa que Canta.

The inspired designs of Enrique Zozaya and Enrique Mueller are slowly changing the architectural landscape of Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa and some of the surrounding area – Playa Larga, Barra de Potosí, Troncones, etc. Not just the above mentioned Small Luxury Hotels, but an increasing number of private homes and even Time Share developments like Pacifica in Ixtapa, which has contracted Zozaya for it’s most recent additions and suites, benefit from their talent. Mueller is well advanced with the construction of a very exclusive all suites property with the name Capricho in Punta Ixtapa, owned by a Mexican group of investors. He also designed the latest addition to Playa la Ropa in Zihuatanejo for the Intrawest Resort Ownership Corporation (IROC), a subsidiary of the Canadian Intrawest Corporation from Vancouver: A Private Members’ Club, slated to open in December 2004. Club Intrawest already operates a collection of resorts throughout North America, including Palm Desert, California, Tremblant, Quebec, Vancouver, British Columbia, Whistler, British Columbia, and Sandestin, Florida. According to a company spokesman, thousands of Member families all over the world are satisfied customers (members) of the existing Intrawest Developments. This project will be their first in Mexico. Work is already underway on the Enrique Mueller design, being implemented by the Mexico City architectural firm BAI. Dallas-based Vivian-Nichols Associates will be the project’s interior design firm and Mexican-based JACA Group is the project’s general contractor. (www.clubintrawest.com)

In the March issue of “Another Day in Paradise” I suggested a website from the Mexican Tourism Ministry regarding statistics for the interested reader. Did you have a look? If yes, you will have noticed that hotel occupation kept climbing, even before the totally crowded Easter holidays. By time you read this, we should see an increase of over 5% in comparison to last year. According to official information from Datatur at the SECTUR website (www.sectur.gob.mx), before Easter we were up 4.99 % from last year and 12.42% from prior to 9/11(!). Besides in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where in Mexico or elsewhere (except Kabul and Baghdad, maybe) did visitors numbers grow in recent months?
It’s not just famous visitors, new developments and the fact that hotel occupation is skyrocketing what makes Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo an up and coming destination. The new road to Morelia is definitely a detonator. Those of us who love Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo for it’s quality of live, speak: quaint, easygoing, beautiful and relaxing, now have compelling reasons to take a trip to the colonial towns and countryside in Michoacán and Guanajuato during certain “puentes” and holidays.

A question a lot of people have been asking lately, not only in K. and B.: Are we attracting the right kind of visitors to our destination? In the case of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where do we want to position our resort in comparison with other tourism destinations? If you have a business, a property or are interested in acquiring one, this might influence your decision regarding the investment. Naturally, different local organizations, chambers, authorities and businesses have different priorities and at this time the State, as well as the Federal tourism ministries and John McCarthy at FONATUR are called upon to organize all interested parties and reach for common goals. One thing is for sure, only with an apt vision and professional guidance of the process will we see our investments bear fruit and at the same time maintain the quality of life we are accustomed to.