CICTE Secretariat Mission to Cancun, Mexico, on a tourism security project 

From November 12-16 a mission led by the CICTE Secretariat visited tourist and port facilities in Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, y Puerto Juarez, as well as the international airports of Cancun and Cozumel, in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico, in order to research security conditions and present the Tourism Security Project to noted federal, state, and municipal authorities in this Mexican Caribbean zone.  The Project is based on the creation of a public and private sector partnership with the principal objective of giving training to personnel in tourist and recreational facilities to prevent a possible terrorist or criminal attack of great impact. 

The Project is being developed in two Mexican cities:  Acapulco (in the Pacific, with primarily national tourism) and Cancun (in the Caribbean, with primarily foreign tourism).  In both cities, the CICTE Secretariat will conduct in March 2009, in collaboration with representatives of the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), workshops with the public and private sectors in order to jointly finalize the content of training to be given to security personnel in 2009 and 2010.  Cancun’s recently created tourism police has requested CICTE training.  

According to statistics collected by the CICTE Mission, tourism represents the greatest income-generating source for the economy of the State of Quintana Roo.  Receiving 7.5 million tourists a year—an increase of 4.8% from 2007--the Cancun airport has the highest number of international arrivals in Latin America.  The Riviera Maya has 35,000 hotel rooms.  Cozumel receives up to 12 cruise ships in a single day (approximately 30,000 visitors) and more than 2.5 million tourists a year.