Mexico: military company Grupo Olmeca-Maya-Mexica to manage tourism funds

27-05-23

In Mexico, at the proposal of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Senate this week approved that the military company Grupo Olmeca-Maya-Mexica should manage 80 per cent of the funds from tourism.

The military company Grupo Olmeca-Maya-Mexica is the same company that is building the two major tourism projects that the president is leading in the country: the Mayan Train and the International Airport.

Each tourist entering Mexico must pay a fee of approximately 37 dollars, with the exception of visitors staying less than 7 days in the country and children up to the age of 4. 

Until now, these funds were managed by the Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo (Fonatur), whose main function is the promotion of tourism and the development of the tourism industry in the country. However, the reform approved by the Senate also includes the dismantling of the governmental institution.

Undoubtedly, this is one more example of the militarisation that President López Obrador is carrying out during his government. In addition to major works such as the Mayan Train or the new airports of AIFA or Tulum, it is worth remembering that Sedena - the Ministry of National Defence, on which the Army depends - is also in charge of managing Mexico's new tourist destination, the Islas Marías.

Mexico is one of the countries that receives the most tourists in the world. In 2019, it received 45 million international visitors, the equivalent of the entire population of Spain or Argentina. Every year it appears among the top ten most visited destinations on the planet and, in buoyant years, it has been in the top five. But this is not the only international list in which the Aztec country stands out. According to the organisation Citizens' Council for Public Safety and Social Justice, nine of the ten most dangerous cities in the world are Mexican.