NEWS FLASH - New Documentation Requirements

Each passenger desiring transportation across any international boundary is responsible for obtaining all necessary travel documents and for complying with the laws of each country flown from, through or into which he or she desires transportation as stated in Rule 19 of the Contract of Carriage. Passport, visa and health requirements are provided on continental.com as a courtesy and should be verified before travel.


U.S. federal legislation requires that all commercial air carriers operating international flights to the U.S. submit the citizenship status and the visiting address for all passengers who are non-U.S. citizens and non-residents to U.S. Customs and Border Protection before travel commences. You will be expected to provide this information at the airport.
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

Due to a change in U.S. law, effective Jan. 23, 2007, all customers, regardless of citizenship or age, must hold a valid passport to travel by air to/from the U.S.

This is a change from prior travel requirements which in many cases allowed travel with a driver's license or birth certificate. The goal is to strengthen border security and facilitate entry into the United States for U.S. citizens and legitimate foreign visitors. Review the complete details.

In addition, each passenger desiring transportation across any international boundary is responsible for obtaining all necessary travel documents and for complying with the laws of each country flown from, through or into which he or she desires transportation as stated in Rule 19 of the Contract of Carriage.

Passport, visa and health requirements are provided on continental.com as a courtesy and should be verified by the passenger before travel.

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Year Ends With Record Numbers

The Riviera Maya closed 2006 with a week in which hotel occupancy rates were 90%. Even MayanHoliday.com travel consultants had a hard time finding rooms for guests during the holidays. Cancun's occupancy rates were an impressive 95%. These figures are higher than the figures from 2004 and help to prove that the region is fully recovered from damage caused by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

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NEWS FLASH - Tulum Receives Most Visitors

Nearly a million tourists visited the 12 archaeological zones of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, home of The Riviera Maya, during 2006, according to local officials. The most visited site was Tulum, which is only 45 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. It received 80% of the nearly 7,000 daily visitors that the sites get. Though there are other sites in the area, a lack of well-maintained roads has kept tour groups from exploring much farther south than Tulum. Officials plan to improve the roads to take some pressure off Tulum and to get more exposure to other areas of the state.

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A Year of Development for The Riviera Maya

PLAYA DEL CARMEN - Local officials report that the Riviera Maya will have approximately 35,000 hotel rooms in by the middle of 2007. In September of 2006, it had 29,462, with 31,400 expected in operation by December 31, 2006.

This marks the second most rooms ever added to the region's inventory, just after 1998, with more than 5,000 rooms were constructed.

The Riviera Maya is on the cusp of passing Cancun (which has around 30,000 rooms) as the largest largest destination in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, which also makes it one of the nation's largest.

Tourism officials forecast that the region will finish with 2,821,000 visitors in 2006, with an average hotel occupancy rate of 78%.

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Tickets On Sale for Riviera Maya PGA Tournament

PLAYA DEL CARMEN — PGA TOUR players are starting to make plans for the 2007 season and are including the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya - Cancun as part of their schedule for the February 19-25 tournament at the Mayakoba resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Major championship winners Mark Calcavecchia, Jeff Sluman and Steve Elkington have indicated they plan to participate in Mexico’s first-ever official PGA TOUR event. Past PGA TOUR champions John Cook, J.B. Holmes and Dean Wilson have also added their names as possible competitors in February.

“Now that the 2006 season is behind them, players are starting to focus on where they will be competing in 2007 and we are excited to see a few of these stars make initial plans to come to Playa del Carmen,” said Tournament Director Larson Segerdahl. “We know that players are already talking about the Cancun Riviera Maya region of Mexico as an exotic resort destination. Also, the opportunity to play in a historical event for Mexico has created quite an interest among the TOUR membership.”

Greg Norman, the course-designer and winner of over 90 worldwide golf tournaments, is also expected to participate in this premier PGA TOUR event.

Also included in the field will be four players who qualify through an Open Qualifying Tournament to be held at the Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club in Playa del Carmen on Monday, February 19, 2007.

TICKET SALES

Tickets for the inaugural Mayakoba Golf Classic will go on sale to the general public on Friday, December 15th. Fans and businesses will have several options to purchase tickets for the five day event by visiting www.mayakobagolfclassic.com, calling 984-873-4916 in Mexico or 888-66-SHARK in the United States.

Weekly tickets, which include ground access only Wednesday through Sunday, are available for $100 USD. The daily ticket option begins with the Wednesday Pro-Am for $20 USD. Competition days, Thursday through Sunday, are $30 USD.

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NEWS UPDATE - Riviera Maya Airport

The Mexican aviation authority is still considering the construction of a new international airport near the town of Tulum. Plans for the airport were originally announced in 2005 and Grupo Asur, which already operates nine airports in southeastern Mexico (including Cancun and Cozumel), was selected to operate it.

It is not likely that a final decision will be made before the end of the year, the aviation authority announced this week.

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Reader Photo - Playa Paraiso

Riviera Maya regular Sue Whelan took this great shot at Playa Paraiso recently. If you have any vacation photos you'd like to share with MayanHoliday.com readers, just send them to our editors.

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History of The Riviera Maya

The following is reprinted with permission from "Great Destinations: Playa del Carmen, Tulum & The Riviera Maya," by Joshua Eden Hinsdale.

“In the beginning all was invisible. The sky was motionless. There was only water, the quiet ocean, the silence, the nights. Then there came the word.”
—From The Popol Vuh, sacred Mayan scriptures

Playa del Carmen owes its growing popularity to the nearby resort town of Cancún, just 40 miles to the north, and Cozumel Island, just 12 miles to the east. The influence of these two towns has helped shape Playa since the days of the Mayans.

Playa del Carmen is named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who is the patron saint of Cancún. She was known as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a town in Italy, which was the first place where a chapel was built in her honor, in 1263, before her ascension into Heaven.

The first recorded visitors to the beaches of what is now Playa del Carmen came during the Early Classic Period (A.D. 300–-600) of the Mayan civilization. Then called Xaman-Ha, or “waters of the north,” Playa was a rest stop of sorts for travelers making their way from the great cities of the Mayan world to the island of Cozumel. These travelers readied their dugout canoes and prepared for the journey across the straits on the same shores that now house the restaurants, hotels, and nightspots of modern-day Playa del Carmen.

Cozumel, called Ah Cuzamil Petén, meaning “island of the swallows,” by the Mayans, was a sacred site and home to Ix-Chel, the goddess of fertility and wife of Itzámna, the god of the sun. Young women across the Mayan empire, from present-day Yucatán, Honduras, Belize, and beyond, journeyed to Cozumel on a sacred pilgrimage to pay homage to Ix-Chel and pray for fertility and healthy childbirth.

In return for the dozens of shrines and temples that the Mayan’s constructed, Ix-Chel is said to have gifted the people with the graceful swallow, or Cuzamil, which led the Mayans to give the island its name. Many of the temples for Ix-Chel have survived, including San Gervasio, which can still be visited today.

More information about the history of The Riviera Maya can be found in Joshua Hinsdale's, "Great Destinations: Playa del Carmen, Tulum & The Riviera Maya," published by Countryman Press and available at amazon.com or your local bookstore.

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Peso-Pinching in the Riviera Maya

Traveling on a budget? Try these inexpensive and fun activities:

• Take free salsa lessons Tuesday and Thursday at 7 PM at La Bodequita del Medio restaurant.
• Walk along the interpretive nature trail at the back of the parking lot of the Las Palapas hotel.
• Visit the Xaman-Ha ruins in Playacar, just south of the Playacar Palace hotel.
• Head to the beach and build a sandcastle in the shape of the great pyramid at Chichén Itzá.
• Get up early to watch the sun rise over the Caribbean. Some people like it even more than watching a sunset.
• Take advantage of the free appetizer/drink coupons offered by many restaurants along Quinta in Playa del Carmen.
• Stroll the park across from the municipal building and learn to count in Mayan from the educational displays.
• Grab your snorkel and take a dip in Manatee cenote, across from Blue Sky Resort in Tankah.
• Watch the fire dancers perform their nightly show on the beach of the Blue Parrot bar at 11 PM or at the next-door El Pirata bar at midnight.
• Join the locals for a street party in Cozumel, complete with live music, each Sunday evening in the town square.
• Looking for authentic Mexican food? Head to 30th Avenue in Playa del Carmen and eat with the locals. The stretch between 2nd Street and 14th Street is lined with many casual eateries with inexpensive tacos, seafood and more.
• Snorkel the protected cove at Akumal Bay and see moray eels, stingrays, and barracuda lurking in the shallows.

Top 10 See-and-Be-Seen Hotels of the Riviera Maya

• Blue Parrot, Playa del Carmen: With an open-air dance floor and sexy dancers at your back door, you can’t go wrong.
• Fairmont Mayakoba, Punta Bete: The huge stone entryway makes you wonder what’s inside; only the privileged few know for sure.
• Azulik Hotel, Tulum: With clothing-optional beaches and open-air massages -- you may see a naked celebrity.
• Hotel Básico, Playa del Carmen: The prosperous days of 1950s Latin America glorified with a rooftop bar, oil tank swimming pools, and rooms with neon lights.
• Hotel Deseo, Playa del Carmen: Up the unmarked stairs, it’s the hip hangout for the Playa elite.
• Hotel Esencia, Xpu-Ha: The former estate of an Italian duchess can be yours, for a price.
• Maroma Resort & Spa, Punta Maroma: If it’s good enough for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, you’ll probably enjoy it also.
• Mezzanine Hotel, north of Tulum pueblo: Swanky digs, topless beaches, and DJ parties in the shadow of the Tulum ruins.
• Occidental Royal Hideaway, Playacar: Playacar’s premier hotel proves all-inclusive resorts can be luxurious, too.
• Paraiso de la Bonita, north of Puerto Morelos: With a $3,000-a-night penthouse, you never know who you may rub shoulders with at the swim-up bar.

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Travel Agents Rank International Destinations

Carlson Wagonlit has released results of a travel agent survey from Fall 2006. The Riviera Maya ranks as the third most popular international travel destination, while Cancun is number two and Playa del Carmen is tied for tenth.

Complete List:

1. Cruise - Caribbean

2. Cancun, Mexico

3. Riviera Maya, Mexico

4. Rome, Italy

5. Montego Bay, Jamaica

6. London, England

7. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

7. Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, Mexico

9. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

10. Cruise - Mexico (tie)

10. Playa del Carmen, Mexico (tie)

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