A region on the rise

When they came, with their steel swords and horses, the conquistadors were amazed by what they saw. They were bewildered by the architecture, the way stepped limestone temples soared to the sky. They were amazed by the markets where thousands gathered daily, hawking gold, brass and silver. They were even impressed by the food: the maize, the meats, the little cakes made from eggs. It was all so astounding, in fact, that sometimes they doubted it was real. “I am fully aware,” admitted Hernán Cortés, the leader of the Spanish expedition, soon after his men had conquered this new world, “that the account will appear so wonderful as to be deemed scarcely worthy of credit.”

The Mexico first seen by Cortés, early in the 16th century, has since vanished into history. Yet some of its wonders live on. Visit Mexico City and you can see the same temples he saw – even if now they are flanked by potholed highways and taxis. Head east from the metropolis and you can see where the Spaniards first landed, the beaches just as amber as they were in 1519. And beyond the heartland of Mexico – where the Aztecs and the Maya once roamed – the rest of Central America offers bounties too. In the far south is Costa Rica, boasting 28 national parks and 6% of the planet’s biodiversity. There is also El Salvador, with its brooding army of volcanoes, or Honduras and its lakes. And there are islands – dozens of them – tourist gems scattered like shrapnel down the picturesque Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Nor is all this just for show. Hospitality is the lifeblood of this region: in 2019 it contributed 17% of the Mexican GDP alone, according to data from Knoema. And following the tourists are the hoteliers, building luxury hideaways and affordable hideouts from Panama to the Rio Grande. Buoyed by strong investment in infrastructure, there are signs that the region is thinking about the future. Not that the path ahead is free of hurdles. Unlike elsewhere, Covid-19 failed to seriously dampen Central American hospitality. But just as Hernán Cortés found when he came to Mexico, this can be a dangerous place, with gangs killing some tourists and convincing others to stay home. What this means for regional hospitality remains uncertain – even if the consequences for locals are increasingly stark.

Vamos a la playa

Few hotel groups have as much experience in Central America as Marriott. In 1969 it opened its first non-US hotel, the Paraiso del Pacifico, at the Mexican resort of Acapulco. And though styles have changed over the decades – building a stark concrete skyscraper like the Paradiso would be impossible these days – many of the same principles still apply. Acapulco, after all, is a spot for poolside cocktails and beachside flings, a combination that remains popular across the region. “Clearly, the main attraction in Central America is its untouched beaches – the sun, the ocean and sand,” says Alejandro Aceveda, a regional vice-president at Marriott. “Fishing and sea activities are also an important source of leisure tourism, in some cases with important competitions.”

Marriott is not alone. Over the past several decades, resort destinations like Puerta Vallarta (Mexico) and Roatan (Honduras) have come to dominate Central American hospitality. If nothing else, this is reflected by the numbers. According to Statista Cancún, the Yucatán Peninsula had nearly 10,800 hotel rooms under construction at the end of 2020. To put that into perspective, Mexico City, a heaving metropolis of nearly nine million, has a pipeline of just 3,584. More to the point, this boom is shadowed by where specific operators are laying foundations. Marriott, for instance, plans to open a new property at the Ambergris Caye resort in Belize. Other brands are following suit, with Hyatt opening several new beach hotels. A typical example is the Secrets Moxche, a luxury 485-room hotel at Playa del Carmen in Mexico.

As the Paraiso del Pacifico continues to cast a shadow over Central American hospitality, more adventurous travellers are starting to flock there too. And as Mario Carone argues, this is not difficult to understand. “Central America offers a plethora of destinations to appeal to any type of traveller, and a culture of service that is unrivalled,” says Carbone, managing director of development for Mexico and Central America at Hilton, adding that the isthmus offers everything from birdwatching to ancient ruins. The region’s post-Columbian heritage is increasingly popular too. Typical are towns like Antigua in Guatemala or Oaxaca in Mexico, with their handsome colonial squares and their grand, wedding cake-style cathedrals.

At the same time, many Central American countries are investing heavily in the infrastructure needed to cope with the influx – with the seven countries south of Mexico predicted to welcome 30 million visitors annually by 2030. A case in point is Costa Rica, which in 2020 invested $160m across four international airports and eight local airfields. Its neighbours are close behind, with Panama recently announcing a flurry of road-building projects. It helps, too, that Central America arguably has suffered less from the pandemic than its neighbours. Buoyed by a resurgence in package deals, Mexico was the first country to return to pre-pandemic tourism levels, while minnows like Belize have performed well too.

A new world

When it opens in 2024 Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve property owned by Marriott, promises to be one of the most glamorous hotels in Central America. Set amid 1,400 acres of private land, about 150 miles north-east of the Costa Rican capital, guests will be able to enjoy private plunge pools and spa-like bathrooms and spectacular views over the rainforest beyond. Yet if you think Nekajui sounds like just another Paraiso del Pacifico – do not be fooled. Though sunbathing will certainly feature, Aceveda is keen to emphasise the resort’s other attractions too. As he puts it, Nekajui (meaning “garden” in the local indigenous language) will offer guests “a highly personalised journey” to one of the world’s biodiversity wonders. In practice that means hikes and bike trails, as well as opportunities to spot woodpeckers, toucans and other rare birds. In its sophisticated mix of sun and culture, the Nekajui is of a piece with other new properties. The new Ritz-Carlton, in Mexico City, is a case in point. Opened in late 2021, near the trendy Roma neighbourhood, the property offers easy access to bustling restaurants and tequila bars. Even hotels that keep more closely to the traditional seaside model are moving in a similar direction.

Carbone, for his part, highlights the Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya in Mexico. All sea view suites and swimming pools, the Hilton property hardly differs architecturally from other beachside hotels. Unlike them, however, the hotel also features ornate handcrafted doors – a nod to the grand Mayan ruins nearby. Even more strikingly, Carbone notes the presence of an “in-house shaman” who can perform rituals for more spiritually minded customers.

At the same time, both Carbone and Aceveda agree that success also lies in opening more mass-market hotels. Certainly, this makes sense given the growing influence of domestic travellers. They may only make half as much as their American cousins, after all, but Mexicans now contribute 88 of every 100 pesos spent by tourists in their native land, as reported by the OECD studies on tourism. With that in mind, giants are eager to balance Nekajui-style extravagance with more modest affairs. And from Tru by Hilton (in Mexico) to AC by Marriott (in Costa Rica), there is plenty of evidence of this in practice. In the long term, Aceveda adds that the region could soon see the rise of “bleisure” – where guests answer business emails in the morning, then hit the beach until sundown.

Regional risks

In October 2021, a holiday in the sun quickly turned into a nightmare. After a gunfight broke out between rival drug gangs in Tulum, two tourists died in the crossfire. One of the victims, an Indian woman who lived in America, had posted a photo of herself on Instagram just two days before she died. Violence here is not especially rare: according to a recent report by the Washington Post, Tulum registered 65 murders between January and September 2021, an 80.5% increase to the same period in 2020. Similar scenes occur in other corners of the region: in 2019, an American doctor was murdered during a fly-fishing expedition in Belize. In 2020, a Costa Rican security guard was arrested for killing another American.

All of this raises difficult questions for Central American hospitality. To put it bluntly: might gangs and the drug trade stymie the region’s growth? Though he concedes that stability is vital to generating foreign investment and financing – and getting tourists through hotel lobbies – Aceveda is sanguine. Among other things, he points to the fact that Marriott recently opened its 300th property in the Caribbean and Latin America, with more planned soon.

Carbone makes a similar point, noting that robust security measures can help travellers feel safe. And there is little evidence that the bloodshed of recent years is dampening investment. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, Hilton has plans for ten openings across Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet with murder rates persistently high from Honduras to El Salvador, there are risks that locals will struggle while tourism soars. Given everything people here have suffered, from Hernán Cortés onwards, that would be a pity.