Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — One of Playa del Carmen’s public beaches has ranked among the best beaches in Latin America. Punta Esmeralda has been ranked the third best municipal beach in Latin America by CIF-Playas.
The Panama-based agency says the beach was chosen for its environmental qualities as well as its inclusive policies and educational information.
According to their report, “This beach is a good example of the application of inclusive policies and attractive information and environmental education formulas, which are supported by its reception center with trained and active staff.
It is one of the most visited by the community, with a wide area for rest and recreational activities, they reported.
“The analysis of the content of 70 websites with some ranking of beaches carried out in 2022 showed that only 30 percent took indicators into account in their evaluation.
“The rest of the rankings were based solely on opinion, including the opinion of the editorial board or travel specialists, personal experience, user perception and popularity on Instagram, among other subjective variables,” they explained.
The Ranking of Best Beaches, which was done by the International Center for Training in Beach Management and Certification (CIFPlayas) and the Coastal Systems Research Group, corrects these deficiencies and standardizes the classification of beaches using a robust prioritization framework that includes general, recreation, protection, conservation and health indicators.
The factors to be measured are waste management, access and parking, load capacity, services and infrastructure, scenic value, security, protection against storms, stability of the coastline, induced changes, sub-aerial dissipation, vulnerability and risk, environmental quality, management actions, habitat, species, heritage, water and sand quality, episodic contamination and sanitary services.
“The conceptual approach is based on the definition of beach environmental quality, understood as the state of this socio-natural system at a precise moment in terms of ecosystem functionality and satisfaction of human needs.”
Playa Punta Esmeralda is the third in the category of best urban beach surpassed by two from Cuba, International Varadero and Historic Varadero. It is also among the 10 best beaches in the Caribbean occupying a fourth position which is once again surpassed by Varadero Internacional and Histórico and Playa de Faro de Maya in Cuba.
By country, Playa del Carmen’s Punta Esmeralda is first in the best beaches in Mexico category followed by El Corsario, Cabo San Lucas, Del Holi, Jalisco, Acapulquito, San José del Cabo and Camarones, Puerto Vallarta.
