Can the Riviera Maya live with (or without) cruises?

Questions about mass tourism in the world’s sixth most-visited country

Welcome to The Mexpatriate.

Summer is here, and the sun has just peeked out for the first time since the solstice—it’s been a soggy week across Mexico, including here in the Guanajuato highlands.

In today’s premium newsletter, I dive into two news stories about cruise tourism in the Riviera Maya and the wider implications for local economies and biodiversity.

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“Cozumel isn’t for sale” and “More piers, more jobs” read signs held by opposing locals in a demonstration in Cozumel on June 11, a response to the planned construction of a fourth cruise pier on the “Island of Swallows.”