Mexico was visited in 2021 by 31.9 million foreign tourists, who spent 19 thousand 795 million dollars, figures that represented increases of 31.3% and 80%, respectively, compared to 2020, which represents 8.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP ) from the country.
The sector is so important for Mexico, however, it is very common to find neglected, dirty destinations and tourism products, far from sustainability and with poorly trained personnel.
Sadly, we all have an experience that can be as unpleasant as finding a diaper on a beach, being robbed, high prices in a restaurant, rude staff, among a long list that can make everyone fat.
He clarified the above because it is not a personal experience, but generalized cases of ill-treatment towards tourists; I recently traveled to wonderful Oaxaca, specifically to visit the Mexican Turtle Center in Mazunte and
I have to say, with regret, that it was a tragic experience.
It is a sea turtle conservation center where every day the staff strives to safeguard the eggs of these reptiles and preserve their spawning grounds, even with the best of intentions and although every year they receive thousands
of people the place looks in poor condition in its facilities. Oaxaca is so important for turtles that of the eleven marine species that inhabit the planet, ten of them reach Mexican beaches and nine spawn in its sands, which is why the state of deterioration of the facilities and the image seems incredible. that they offer from Mexico to the world.
Mazunte or Maxontetia, is a Nahuatl word that is made up of ma, imperative, xon, which indicates the second person singular in the form of a request, and tetia, “to spawn”, that is: “I ask you to spawn, please! ”, is that beautiful, that literal. But it is far from that and this is the responsibility of the governments, from the municipal to the federal.
Finally, at those points of direct access to tourists, the work of the entire tourism ecosystem is seen, for better or for worse, and such is the irresponsibility that the Federal Government offers it as an attractive star of Oaxaca Dirty windows, ponds in poor condition, animals that visibly require attention, it’s a shame. This place could be the most important turtle enclosure in the world, with the enormous profits that this would bring, and now it is limited and
abandoned.
It is difficult to think of a nobler action than the one carried out every day by the volunteers and staff in charge, but without resources it is impossible. On the other hand, tourists who leave thousands of pesos to the state and the federation do not need to be treated like this, deceived when they arrive and find such abandonment.
I do not recommend it. And there must be thousands of people like me, and that’s how you miss out on being a world-class destination.