Mexico Presents 2026-2030 Sustainable Tourism Policy

Mexico has presented its 2026-2030 Sustainable Tourism Policy, a national framework aimed at integrating sustainability criteria into tourism planning and decision-making across the country’s 32 states, while strengthening environmental management, climate resilience, intergovernmental coordination, and access to financing for sustainable projects.

The policy was presented Sept. 2 during the 10th edition of the Sustainable & Social Tourism Summit in Mexico City. The framework is structured around five strategic pillars covering sustainable tourism governance, tourism culture, sustainable, and regenerative tourism offerings, climate resilience and risk management, and financing. Together, these areas include 16 lines of action and 60 key actions, with designated responsibilities and implementation timelines for the short, medium, and long term.

The policy seeks to move sustainability beyond individual tourism projects and incorporate it into state-level tourism planning. It also establishes mechanisms to monitor commitments and measure results, while promoting coordination between government institutions and the development of financing mechanisms for sustainable projects.

During the presentation, Norma Martínez, Baja California’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, and Secretary General,  National Association of State Environmental Authorities (ANAAE), emphasized the importance of linking tourism development with environmental management. “The Sustainable Tourism Policy of Mexico that is being presented today is much more than an institutional document, it is the result of collaborative work. This forum is the compass that will allow the states to align our efforts, ensuring that economic development and biodiversity conservation are not separate paths,” she says.

Martínez said the next challenge is moving from regulatory frameworks toward policies that produce measurable results. She cited Baja California as an example of the interinstitutional coordination the national framework seeks to promote, involving environmental and tourism authorities and federal institutions such as the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP).

Among the state’s initiatives is the “Visitor Decalogue,” developed with the state Tourism Secretariat to encourage tourists to protect the environment in the destinations they visit. “Actions such as the decalogue, which invite tourists to become guardians of their own destination with clear principles, such as caring for and preserving the environment they visit, can be the seeds that we want to replicate in all states,” Martínez says.

The policy was developed through three workshops involving more than 500 people from the 32 states, with support from the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) and validation from ANAAE and the Mexican Association of Secretaries of Economic Development (AMSDE). The process also established a national collaboration network among state tourism secretariats.

The initiative builds on ASETUR’s “Sustainable Tourism: Mexico in Motion” document, presented at FITUR 2026, which compiled 32 sustainability practices, one from each state, as well as a six-hour online training course.

The next phase will focus on implementation. State tourism secretariats are expected to incorporate the policy into their planning processes, assign responsibilities, implement actions and document progress through 2030. “A public policy acquires value when it is implemented, measured and held accountable. From Nuevo Leon, we will continue leading this agenda, supporting the states and following up on the commitments made,” Martínez says.