Riviera Maya, Q.R. — Mexico ranks first in North America in Blue Flag certified beaches. The Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico, Miguel Torruco Marqués, announced that Mexico is the leader on the North American continent and 10th worldwide.
Mexico ranks first with 108 Blue Flag certifications for the 2023-2024 season, which are granted by the Foundation For Environmental Education (FEE).
Presiding over the Second Meeting of the National Blue Flag Jury, Torruco Marqués, reported that 73 beaches, two marinas and 33 sustainable tourism vessels will bear the Blue Flag Distinctive in the 2023-2024 season.
Joaquín Díaz Ríos, Executive Director of FEE México, said that the Blue Flag Badge is a tool that adds value to one of the most relevant productive activities in the country and congratulated the National Operators for complying with the evaluations.
Torruco Marqués pointed out that the agency, in coordination with FEE, has driven and promoted programs whose purpose is to create awarenessbamong tourists and residents, about the importance of ecosystems.
One of them is Green Key, focused on the sustainability of the lodging industry, together with the Blue Flag, a distinction created in 1985 and which is awarded to beaches, marinas and tourist boats for their excellence in environmental management, security, services and water quality.
Torruco Marqués commented that the beaches of Mexico are ideal places not only for rest and family recreation, but also for extreme water sports and weddings.
“Given its relevance, we must continue working on its preservation, care and protection as indicated in the 2019-2024 National Development Plan where the Government of Mexico, headed by the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is committed to the sustainability as an indispensable factor of well-being, under ethical, social, environmental and economic principles, which, applied in the present, allows us to aspire to a habitable and harmonious future,” he said.
The Secretary of Tourism explaiened that Sectur implemented the Kuxatur project, whose main objective is the conservation of biodiversity in coastal ecosystems through the design and implementation of innovative policies and models of sustainable tourism.
He said it has financing from the Global Environmental Fund for $7.4 million USD dollars to be executed in six years, which is being applied in Maya Ka’an, Quintana Roo, the “Sierra La Laguna” Biosphere Reserve in Baja California Sur and Huatulco-Chacahua, in Oaxaca.
Joaquín Arturo Díaz Ríos reported that the Blue Flag International Jury met on April 19, 2023, in order to review and approve the Blue Flag candidacies for 2023 and ruled Mexico’s 108 sites as admissible for the 2023-2024 Season.
