MESOAMERICAN REEF TOURISM INICIATIVE (MARTI) The hotel industry faces multifold pressures when finding new, attractive sites to build hotels while at the same time needing to comply with novel environmental legislation, protect biodiversity and fragile ecosystems - often the main attraction of the new location, and attend to growing interests of local communities and organizations with social and environmental agendas.

The best way for hotels to significantly reduce any of these challenges is for environmental and social aspects to be core considerations in the planning and design stages of development, when property location, building design, and operating plant installation are decided. Similarly, hotels are constantly challenged with the need to reduce their operational environmental impactfor example, their energy and water consumption, solid waste disposal, and use and disposal of hazardous materials. This becomes extremely relevant in destinations where resources are limited and the surrounding environment is extremely fragile.

Implementation in Quintana Roo

Large-scale destruction of economically and ecologically important coastal habitats in Quintana Roo caused by tourism development is not inevitable. The implementation of sustainable hotel development guidelines will ensure tourism development that is in harmony with the surrounding ecosystems. Conservation International and Amigos de Sian Kaan are working with local and state governments and the private sector, to incorporate sustainable hotel siting, design, and construction guidelines in existing policy tools such as zoning plans, construction regulations, sale and development pre-requisites, and permit conditions. The Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI) hopes to be able to secure at least one committed, high profile planned resort development project as a demonstration site for sustainable hotel development and operation. By 2010 we expect that this project will have triggered significant change to the extent that new hotel construction in the Costa Maya and the Riviera Maya will be occurring in a manner that incorporates sustainability and environmental issues, such as building efficiencies, future flexibility, and environmental and societal impact among others. But MARTI also engages existing hotel infrastructure. In order to reduce the environmental impacts caused by the almost 30,000 hotel rooms in operation in the Riviera Maya, MARTI will assist members of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association (AHRM) to implement environmental Best Practices in their daily operation. In a second step those hotels that have successfully completed Best Practice implementation will be coached to establish an Environmental Management System to secure the long term reduction of their environmental impacts. Over the next year this component will be extended to other interested Hotel Associations and hoteliers in Quintana Roo. A subcomponent will promote and assist with the application of Best Practices for Marine Service Providers supporting the work that has been done by the CORAL-ICRAN project. In parallel MARTI will support Amigos de Sian Kaans efforts to establish new protected areas two on resort properties as private reserves, and one at the destination-level as an NGO/private sector partnership. In addition we will build on CIs previous work with the cruise line industry, and MARTI will extend the Cruise Ship Destination dialogue to promote implementation of cruise line policies such as adequate waste water discharge.

The economy of Quintana Roo depends to almost 85% on the income from tourism. Intensive promotion and favorable natural and historical attractions have resulted into massive tourism developments. Staring in the 1970 with the construction of Cancun this world known destination accounts today for 28,000 hotel rooms in and over 30,000 hotel rooms have been built in the Riviera Maya, located about 50 miles south of Cancun. The latter hotel infrastructure mushroomed in less then 10 years in a coastal stretch of less than 80 miles. Both destinations receive almost 6 million tourists per year. Cancun has grown into a city of over 700,000 while Playa del Carmens population has grown tenfold in the last 10 years. Needless to say that this impressive growth has caused considerable impacts on the local ecosystems such as mangroves and the Mesoamerican Reef. It also resulted in water and electricity supply shortages as well as inadequate solid waste disposal and waste water treatment. The MARTI project will reduce water consumption and solid waste generation and improve waste water treatment in the hotel infrastructure of the Mexican Caribbean and thus improve overall water quality as well as the overall water supply situation. MARTIs sustainable architecture component will result in a reduction of coastal habitat destruction while the application of Best Practice in the operation of Marine Recreation Providers will reduce direct impacts on the Mesoamerican Reef and thus the degradation of the marine habitat. Overall the project will contribute to a more sustainable development of tourism in the Mexican Caribbean and thus benefit the local urban population and local communities.

MARTI plans to achieve its ambitious goals by working with government agencies and hotel sector leaders. The MARTI team will forge partnerships with the municipalities of Solidaridad, the administrative entity for the Riviera Maya, and Othón P. Blanco, which administers the Costa Maya; state and federal government agencies; and key international and local partners. The Government of Quintana Roo and the Municipalities of Solidaridad and Othón P. Blanco (through the Municipal Presidents as well as Departments of Urban Development, Tourism and Environment) will be MARTIs main public sector partners. The project has a 5 year horizon and is implemented through Amigos de Sian Kaan, a state wide operating conservationist NGO. The first year is being dedicated to implement the environmental Best Practice component and position the sustainable architecture component. In addition MARTI will work with the Fondo Nacional de Turismos (FONATUR) Environmental Vice-Presidency in Mexico City, and its Project Execution and Sales Directors in Cancun to incorporate sustainable design and construction guidelines in acquisition pre-requisites and to identify potential demonstration site partners. And the team will collaborate with CEMDA, the regions leading advocacy and environmental law NGO, to advocate the use of sustainable tourism policy tools in the target municipalities of Solidaridad and Othón P. Blanco, and the monitoring of resort and tourism development along the Riviera Maya.

MARTI started project implementation in October 2006 and therefore cannot present concrete results at this stage. However, a pilot project of a MARTI component that was implemented in 15 hotels of the Riviera Maya in the Mexican Caribbean in 2005 has shown that most hotels have considerable potential to reduce water and electricity consumption as well as the generation of solid waste and improve their waste water treatment process.