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Cancun Tourists Go Green: Sustainable Hotels Now A Top Priority

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Three travel trends are influencing how tourists choose what location, accommodations and amenities they select today for their vacation getaway.

They are nature, wellness and sustainability.

Hotels and resorts in Quintana Roo have already moved forward with progress towards capitalizing on the first two trends.

Now, they have really focused on the third to help the Mexican Caribbean area stand out with travelers in a very competitive vacation market.

A beachside resort in Cancun

Sustainable Hospitality

According to a report on the importance of sustainability as a travel differentiator, research from the popular travel website Expedia shows that 65 percent of all travelers booking a vacation on their website are looking for a sustainable hotel.

In fact, the certification of sustainable practices is often the credential that many vacation travelers are looking for from resort and hotel properties listed on the website.

View from the balcony on the hotel resort with palm trees, pools and the lagoon in the background, Cancun

There are currently 180 companies registered as part of an organization that works to ensure that all of its members have sustainable business practices. Of those, 130 are resorts and hotels, while the other 30 are associate members.

Membership in the organization gives travelers comfort that the hospitality business is progressively working to conserve natural resources, decrease waste, and reduce its carbon footprint impact.

Connection to Nature

Divers with whale shark

Not only is the sustainability trend connected to natural resources, but it is also closely connected to the focus on nature many travelers to the Mexican Caribbean are looking for in their vacation getaway.

For instance, many travelers come to the area to get closer to nature and even desire to make a positive impact connected to sustainability.

A popular place for travelers to the Mexican Caribbean focused on those two trends happens to be the unfortunately fragile damaged reef zone located near Puerto Morelos.

Coral reef in the Mexican Caribbean

Also, the reforestation around Punta Nizuc is a popular sustainability project for many of the resorts and hotels in the area, along with travelers looking to volunteer locally.

Social Sustainability is Also Important

While most people would think of sustainability being connected to nature and the outdoors.

Reports show that travelers also looking for social justice and accessibility as an important factor in sustainability.

hotel worker beach mexico staff

Several resorts and hotels are working on demonstrating those enhancements to visitors to the Mexican Caribbean as well.

Resorts and hotels in Cancun, Puerto Morelos, and Isla Mujeres, for example, are proactively working with deaf and blind travelers by providing additional advertising support and signage.

They are also working to resolve gender inequality issues in the resorts in response to the requests of many travelers to the region.

pool worker mexico hotel staff

What Travelers Need to Know

Visitors to the beach resort travel hotspot of the Mexican Caribbean have spoken and the resorts and hotels in the region are proactively working to address many of the sustainability issues identified in the latest travel surveys.

They are directly working with travelers to meet their sustainability requests and finding ways to protect the fragile environment that makes the Mexican Caribbean a travel beach resort destination hotspot for visitors from all over the world.

Tulum eco resort with sun loungers and palm trees

The resorts are also moving forward with initiatives to help resolve some of the social injustice concerns of travelers both among their resort and hotel teams as well as those evident in the communities where they are located.

Travelers who have a sustainability focus when they travel should acknowledge and recognize properties they selected on the basis of sustainability. That would encourage the activity and additional investments in the effort.

If they stay at a property that could do more to meet their sustainability standards, relaying that information to the resort or hotel property could do more to advance sustainability efforts in the Mexican Caribbean one step at a time.

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