Tulum Tourists Get Evicted: What You Need to Know
There’s real estate trouble in paradise, it seems. On Friday, more than a dozen resort and vacation properties were seized in Tulum, Mexico, during a government dispute.
The series of evictions of 16 hotels, restaurants, shops, and private residences along the beach has cropped up several accusations of unfair dispossession on the part of the Mexican government. But that hasn’t stopped the seizure from effecting thousands of hoteliers, workers, vacationers, and property owners from feeling the pressure of losing access to the white sand beaches, Mayan ruins, and blue waters of Tulum.
RELATED: 10 Most Affordable Places to See in Mexico Right Now[1]
At the time the eviction took place, hotels in the affected area had an estimated 60 percent occupancy rate — leaving tourists to scramble for other accommodations. Three hundred tourists were evacuated from Coqui Coqui, the region’s most popular and swanky hotel and spa, by a swarm of security guards who forcefully used tear gas with anyone who resisted the eviction. Moving trucks were seen leaving the area filled with furniture, mattresses, blankets, carpets, paintings, lamps, and numerous pieces of furniture were removed from the rooms of hotels. Additionally, tables, chairs, tablecloths, dishes, and decor were taken from the restaurants and left along the roadside.
"It's essentially a war for the land," Sophia Perlstein of Tulum's KM33 boutique, says in a report from Town and Country[2].
According to the government and reports from Mexico News Daily[3], the evictions are a result of property owners alleged “breach of an oral lease contract between business owners and the municipality,” and a failure to pay rent. However, land owners and business operators don’t agree, and state that the evictions are due to the government’s strong interest in profiting from the Tulum tourism sector.
RELATED: Mexico's Answer to Big Bend[4]
Owners of the land have asked for President Enrique Peña Nieto to intervene and stop what they also call a dispossession, but there has not been a response. Until an agreement can be reached between the government, developers, and entrepreneurs, the idyllic vacation spot is currently a ghost town on the beach.
Have a trip booked? Don't call the hotel (no one will answer) and don't call the government (again, no one will answer). The best advice is to call the tourism department of Mexico [5]to find out your options, and to touch base with other nearby hotels and resorts that are still in business, such as Hotel Ahau[6].
References
- ^ RELATED: 10 Most Affordable Places to See in Mexico Right Now (www.mensjournal.com)
- ^ Town and Country (www.townandcountrymag.com)
- ^ Mexico News Daily (mexiconewsdaily.com)
- ^ RELATED: Mexico's Answer to Big Bend (www.mensjournal.com)
- ^ tourism department of Mexico (www.visitmexico.com)
- ^ Hotel Ahau (ahautulum.com)