However, the role of the military escalated from security to construction, as was the case of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), as well as the Mayan Train, which in addition to being responsible for part of Section 5 and the totality of sections 6 and 7, will be patrimony of the Sedena.
In addition to this, the arm of the military has been extended to other key areas for tourism in certain regions. In Cabo San Lucas, Semar was assigned to take control of the comprehensive port administration, which in 2019 received just over 200 cruise ships from which more than half a million tourists disembarked, according to data from the Infrastructure Secretariat. Communications and Transportation (SICT).
Recently, the secretary of tourism Miguel Torruco shed light on the new role of the armed forces: the operation of flights and ferries to Islas Marías, which closed as a prison complex in 2019, and which seeks to forge a new tourist destination that coexists in the protected natural area. Even President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that the Navy would offer tourist packages in the region.
On the one hand, the representatives of the tourist industry consider that the role of the Navy is essential to preserve the security of the destinations.
“Security, even in tourism, is essential,” he tells Expansion Julia Simpson, President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). “Sometimes I don’t question, I think there is a need (for the presence of the army). The world of tourism can fail when there is no security. The moment the tourist does not feel safe, there is no more tourism”.
Although the perception of insecurity is low in some destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and La Paz, in others, such as Cancun, it exceeds the national average, data from the Inegi National Urban Public Safety Survey as of March this year reflect.
“As a country and an industry we have important challenges that impact the arrival of both national and international tourists. We must pay more attention to the perception of our country, mainly in terms of security”, says Braulio Arsuaga, president of the National Tourism Business Council (CNET).
Hence, the step that the armed forces take care of from security to the operation of a destination worries specialists.
For Gerardo Herrera, an academic at the Universidad Iberoamericana, even in a role in which the presence of the military is limited to the operation of transport such as rail, sea or air, it could be risky.
“Tourism is fundamentally experience, it is hard for me to think of the Army as a creator of experience,” he warns. “She’s not trained in customer experience, you can’t expect a soldier to be a marketer.”
While the Mayan Train is scheduled to start operating at the end of 2023, flights and ferries in Islas Marías could start this year, according to the Ministry of Tourism.