The beach of Progreso, Yucatan receives “Blue Flag” international certification

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Yucatan Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal received on Friday, September 25th, the “Blue Flag” international certification granted by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE, for its acronym in English) to the beach of Progreso, Yucatan. This distinction places Yucatan “before the Eyes of the world” and will provide this port with a greater attraction of investments and tourist promotion that will leave an important economic spill benefiting the economy of the Yucatecans.

Accompanied by the mayor of Progreso, Julián Zacarías Curi, Vila Dosal carried out the raising of the “Blue Flag” on the Romeo Frías Bobadilla Malecón of this port, which is the distinctive mark of the certification of these beaches as safe, clean, and environmentally responsible sites where tourists can enjoy world-class service.

This certification also means that the Traditional and International Malecones of Progreso have sustainable, avant-garde, and friendly spaces with society and the environment, which comply with 4 pillars: water quality, information and environmental education, safety, services, and environmental management and handling.

In addition, through these badges, Progreso joins a network of beaches that are promoted by international tour operators and by the FEE media, which will provide greater exposure and tourism promotion to the state of Yucatan.

During the ceremony, the Executive Director of the FEE, Joaquín Díaz Ríos, delivered the commemorative plaque to the Traditional Malecón that the Governor received, at the same time that Zacarías Curi received the one that corresponds to the International Malecón for complying with the sustainability parameters .

In this regard, Díaz Ríos pointed out that something is happening in Progreso within a sustainable, and resilient environment that is allowing its tourist and economic development, but without damaging the environment, “which is the product of working for more than a year in this port in order to meet 33 international criteria, with this we managed to position Progreso in the International Network of beaches that work for a better future ”.

The manager stressed that these criteria must be met strictly and based on a quantitative evaluation that will be carried out once a month.

“The beach has to be ready every day, the traditional and international boardwalks comply, every time the flag is up, with the international criteria and order and now we can think that Progreso is among the best beaches in the world and of course the best beaches of our Mexican Republic in an objectively evaluated way, ”said Díaz Ríos.

In the monthly review, Environmental Education programs, Water Quality tests, maps of both Certified Beaches with signs of objects and places, treatment plant, cleaning of the Coastal Ecosystem, regulation of domestic animals, Ecological management, Blue Flag operator, sensitive areas, Civil Protection, user reports, Reef Check, Beach profile, etc.

For her part, the head of the Tourism Development Secretariat (Sefotur), Michelle Fridman, highlighted that, with this recognition, Progreso beach becomes one of the 57 beaches in 6 states of the Mexican Republic that have this distinctive and It places Yucatán before the eyes of the world, which will translate into a greater economic benefit for the benefit of Yucatecan families.

“We have always sought to have a development based on sustainability, we have worked so that our development plan has a high component of sustainability, and that allows us to take care of the resources that make this destination wonderful and attract tourism that not only brings benefits economic and social, but also tourism that preserves and regenerates the resources, “said the secretary.

In the presence of the head of the Sustainable Development Secretariat (SDS), Sayda Rodríguez Gómez, Michelle Fridman recalled that shipping companies represented a challenge for tourism in the state of Yucatán, which is why this port has gone through an extreme makeover, and today it looks totally different and with better infrastructure.

“Now we find a Progreso with new infrastructure, with a new boardwalk, with a new tourist access polygon to the municipality of Progreso, we were able to generate equipment for the collection of solid waste, which once again makes us a more competitive destination in terms of sustainability, we have developed a new tourism product, we have attracted investment, we have new restaurants, hotels and new investments on the way, and the result of all this has to do with more tourism, at this moment we are experiencing a global crisis due to the pandemic, however, Yucatan will keep on promoting tourism ”.

When making a count of the historical figures that Yucatan has reached in terms of tourism, we can see that in 2019 the state closed with 14.5% more arrivals of visitors with overnight stays, it is one of the fastest-growing states in the entire country.

In terms of cruises, Yucatan has been registering a historical growth as well, in the last 5 years, Yucatan increased the number of passengers arriving by this route by almost 50%, in 2019 Progreso was sixth among the ports with the most reception of passengers via cruise liners and, in the same year, Progreso received 146 cruise ships, which is equivalent to filling the Mérida International Congress Center 47 times.

In addition, it was possible to specify the arrival of more than 40 additional ships, without a doubt, will be rescheduled once sanitary conditions allow it and, very importantly, in the first two months of 2020, we registered an increase of 50.6% in the passenger arrival compared to the previous year.

“We recently inaugurated the first edition of the Digital Tourism Tianguis that shows that we are a strong industry that knew how to make adversity an opportunity to reinvent this tourist showcase that is the Tianguis where Yucatán had predominant participation and we exceeded 3,000 appointments of businesses that will allow a quicker reactivation of the sector, more than 130 business participants and even in this edition several rural communities that practice community tourism joined us ”, he indicated. 


Finally, the Governor visited the FEE module located on the coast of the beach and greeted the service providers who will be in charge of verifying the information on the state of the beach, promoting the care of natural resources for visitors to that Progreso maintain this distinctive that ensures tourism a sustainable space.

It is worth mentioning that the State Government allocated almost 60 million pesos to revitalize the image of this port and offer attractive spaces for the recreation of locals and visitors through the rehabilitation of a section of the Malecón, the remodeling of the Casa de la Cultura de Progreso, and the improvement of the streets surrounding this building.

Likewise, the state government and the Progreso City Council carried out the construction and reconstruction of 12 kilometers of streets that, with a joint investment of almost 29 million pesos, contributes to improving the living conditions of inhabitants of 7 neighborhoods and 2 subdivisions of the port.

Following the negotiations made by Vila Dosal before President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Progreso was considered to carry out various projects within the 2020 Urban Improvement Program.

In this regard, it should be noted that, due to the cuts by the Federation, the budget for this program in this port was reduced to 168 million pesos, when originally, it was said that, 500 million pesos would be allocated.

Source: Yucatan Ahora

The Yucatan Post