Tulum, Q.R. — Tulum authorities have announced a revamped beach access point that will soon be ready for public use. Currently, municipal authorities are working on cleaning the beach and installing the necessary infrastructure as well as notifying surrounding hotels.
The access is an already-existing beach area near hotels that is infrequently used. Raziel Ek Cruz, the Tulum Director of Cadastre, said the public access is located one kilometer beyond the entrance of the Jaguar Park. He says the municipality currently has 25 marked beach entrances, but some are difficult to access so they are not often used.
“In our PDU there are already 25 designated beach access points, so what the mayor intends is to enable them because although they appear as spaces, what is sought is to provide basic services so that people can have a comfortable stay,” said Raziel Ek.
He says municipal authorities are working to ease beach access at this point as well as cleaning the sand and adding infrastructure. That infrastructure includes Civil Protection lifeguard space, garbage cans, public seating and Zofemat cleaning staff.
On Tuesday, Tulum Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo posted “I’m pleased to share that we’re opening a new public beach access in Tulum. Very soon it will be ready to welcome everyone with space for bicycles and motorcycles, clean areas, trash cans and the presence of Civil Protection lifeguards.
“Beaches are a right, and we’re working to make that right a reality: free, accessible and dignified for residents and visitors from all over the world.”
According to Raziel Ek, this particular point has always been public, however, there have been access problems in the past with the hotels. He explained that is the reason he was involved in the physical walk-through of the beach, which was to verify the location and notify the hotels that that point is public and abuses toward public access will not be permitted.
David Buchanans, the Director of Zofemat Tulum who was also part of the physical walk-through, said it is not an abandoned beach, just not a popular or widely-used beach and one that needs to be cleaned.
“It was not an abandoned beach. It is close to several hotels, so some areas have been cleaned up. It’s not a dump but it’s not the same as the beaches like the one in the National Park.
“What we are going to do now is make sure access is free then clean up the area as much as possible. There will be 10 cleaning people who will work starting Wednesday and when finished, 10 more from the sargassum collection brigade will be sent so that it’s ready as soon as possible,” he explained.
He said the area is not well-known and is littered with trash and microplastics. The beach they are working on is 80 linear meters of beach and more than 2,000 square meters of sand.
According to Ayuntamiento De Tulum (City Hall), there is no exact date for the beach to be ready for public enjoyment, only a rough estimate of “in a few weeks”.
“Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo issued instructions to open a new public beach access located one kilometer beyond the park’s entrance with bicycle and motorcycle parking, trash cans and lifeguards on duty.
“In a few weeks, residents and national and international visitors will be able to enjoy a decent, clean and orderly beach, ”Ayuntamiento De Tulum posted on social media. Earlier this month, Tulum authorities paid a visit to each of the public beach access points across the municipality.
