Grupo Xcaret Readies for Reopening, Halves Investment Plans

Grupo Xcaret, which owns and operates eco-theme parks in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera, will gradually resume activities this month after developing a safety protocol for its guests. Nevertheless, the group expects to invest less than it originally intended this year.

As reported by Travel Agent Central, Xcaret Park and Hotel Xcaret Mexico will be the first Grupo Xcaret resorts to open. The same industry outlet also highlighted the company’s protocols to minimize COVID-19 contagions: “Grupo Xcaret’s protocols, named 360 Xafety and which include 1,300 specific actions, were developed in consultation with national and international organizations. Grupo Xcaret is a member of the board of affiliates of the World Tourism Organization and is also part of the task force assembled by the Global Association for the Attractions Industry to develop their reopening guidance document.”

Expansión noted that Grupo Xcaret will roughly halve its projected investments for 2020, however. “Of the US$225 million initially planned, it will only use US$108 million and leave US$117 million pending.” This decision results from the collapse of tourist flows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Expansión explained. Iliana Rodríguez, the company’s corporate director of sustainability and institutional relations, commented to the aforementioned publication: “Due to this contingency, investments are suspended. We already had a portion of the US$225 million invested but what followed depended directly on the flows we had during the year, which remain compressed and will likely not fully recover."

The Xibalbá Reserve is one of the company’s projects that may be put on hold due to the pandemic. Located in Yucatan and practically fully-built, the eco-theme park was planned to open in December 2020. The new inauguration date is yet to be confirmed.

As per information released by El Financiero, Xcaret Group invested MX$1 billion (US$46.2 million) in Xibalbá. The president of Grupo Xcaret, Miguel Quintana, explained to El Financiero that that the park will have an extension of 254ha on land, of which the complex will occupy 50. More than 300 jobs were generated during the construction period. Quintana went on to say to the same newspaper that Xibalbá is designed to be one of the most advanced sustainability projects in Latin America. Once in operation, he said, it will be able to host 2,000 people, employing 150 people directly and 600 indirectly. Quintana concluded by pointing out that the 254ha are planned to constitute an underground circuit with natural views including cenotes, which can be explored on foot or by water.