Mega-resort faces hurdles

1 Mexico

It would be one of the most audacious tourism projects in Mexican history.

More than 33,000 hotel rooms. An expanse twice that of Cancun. Nearly $6 billion in investment.

The giant resort would be built on Mexico’s Pacific coast, about 50 miles south of Mazatlan.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon in September announced plans for the public-backed project. Still unnamed, it is the largest tourist effort since the government helped build resorts in Cancun, Ixtapa and Los Cabos more than two decades ago, he said.

Officials envision a development spanning seven miles of coast near the town of Escuinapa in an area known for its mangrove trees, numerous fish species, shrimp farms and coconut palms.

Calderon said the resort would be able to accommodate 3 million visitors a year by 2025 and bring in nearly $3 billion in revenue. The government will contribute more than $400 million to complement $5.5 billion in planned private investment.

Environmental activists have raised objections, saying the project would damage an area of ecological richness. A bikini-clad Greenpeace protester showed up when Calderon announced the project, hoisting a sign that decried “predatory tourism.”

Mexican officials have yet to discuss another possible drawback: The proposed site is in the state of Sinaloa, one of the country’s most violent corners, where the dominant drug-trafficking alliance has split into feuding armies. As a result, Sinaloa has almost daily shootouts and one of the highest death tolls in Mexico, with more than 700 fatalities so far this year, according to unofficial media counts. The violence has at times spilled into Mazatlan.

But Mexican tourism officials say they have registered 13 million visitors this year, an increase of at least 5% despite nationwide violence and economic troubles in the U.S. and other countries that provide large numbers of visitors.

-- Ken Ellingwood

2 Germany

Berlin’s historic Tempelhof Airport closed last month, and its service shifted to Tegel airport. Tempelhof, expanded under the Nazis in the 1930s, was used as a U.S. Air Force base for decades after World War II. In recent years, it had been a base for short-hop flights and sightseeing tours.

-- Associated Press

3 Italy

Tourism to Italy dropped by 5% to 7% during the summer because of a weak U.S. dollar and the economic slowdown, said Matteo Marzotto, new head of the country’s tourism board, which faces funding cuts. Marzotto said he hoped to promote lesser-known parts of Italy.

-- Reuters

4 Kenya

Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, said he would focus on the American market to take advantage of the election of Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, as U.S. president.

Police have tightened security at the home of Obama’s paternal grandmother, and workers have begun smoothing its dirt access road.

-- Reuters

Caution spots

The U.S. State Department recently issued warnings or alerts for these areas:

Democratic Republic of Congo, because of deterioration in the security situation in North Kivu province

Somalia, because of the unsettled security situation, including violence and piracy.

--

travel@latimes.com