It is a rare and interesting moment in time when one’s personal career journey intersects with economic and societal trends that will have a dramatic and positive impact on one’s country. My professional life has been dedicated to bringing economic development to Mexico, with the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and sustainability. 

Living and working in Quintana Roo for the past 22 years in government and in the private sector, I have of course taken a major interest in the hospitality and tourism industry in the Mexican Caribbean. 

Few places in the world depend as much on tourism activities as the State of Quintana Roo, where the tourism and services industry represent 87.3 of the state’s total GDP. 

The leadership enjoyed by the Mexican Caribbean’s destinations is unquestioned: Quintana Roo accounts for 35.5% of all the country’s sources of foreign currency, generated by tourist spending on lodging, meals, shopping, and excursions. But what happens when a natural disaster or an international incident of any other type impacts this activity on which almost two million people in the state directly or indirectly depend on? 

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, almost 18 million airline seats to Quintana Roo were canceled, numerous tourism businesses closed, and more than 97,000 jobs were lost. For the first time in the state’s history, hotel occupancy rate fell to 0% and the Cancun airport went from an average of 400+ daily scheduled air operations to a never-before seen drop of only 14 flights per day. These were undoubtedly difficult times for the Mexican Caribbean. No one could imagine that over the next several months, Quintana Roo would once again make history making one of the most successful economic comebacks in Latin American history. 

The tourism industry has proven repeatedly to be hugely resilient and Quintana Roo is a clear example of this, given that in its short history it has faced enormous adversities, like being hit by two of the most devastating hurricanes of the 20th Century—Gilbert and Wilma, 9/11 attacks world travel aftermath, the H1N1 influenza epidemic, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent world economic recession. And every time, its tourism sector has shown its incredible capacity to come back even stronger. 

According to the United Nations World Travel Organization (UNWTO), world tourism in 2020 lost more than one billion international tourists, more than $1.3 trillion dollars in tourism revenues and registered more than $2 trillion dollars of estimated losses in global GDP. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries resorted to lockdown procedures and closed their borders, but Mexico implemented a different strategy: the country remained open to international tourists and, according to the UNWTO 2021 Ranking, this decision helped Mexico to position itself as the world’s second most popular tourism destination, surpassed only by France, with 31,876,000 foreign tourists, of which Quintana Roo received 25.1%, creating some $10.8 billion dollars in revenues. 

An important fact: global tourism activity during the pandemic dropped by 74% whereas Quintana Roo saw a reduction of only 47%. But that’s not all: By 2021, Quintana Roo had recovered 84% of pre-pandemic tourism flow and by the end of 2022 Quintana Roo will be the only destination in the world to have grown a staggering 14% when compared to 2019. 

Also, according to the State Ministry of Labor, by July 2022 Quintana Roo had already recovered all jobs lost during the pandemic, once again becoming the top job producer in the country. Expectations are very high that 2023 will see continued recovery from the pandemic and on to new records for tourism in the Mexican Caribbean. 

In a previous article, I reported that an impressive 11,644 hotel rooms were built in the state of Quintana Roo during the pandemic. Today, on top of the existing 125,481 hotel rooms and the +5,500 under construction, we must add the Secretary of Tourism-estimated +55,000 active units in vacation platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo. 

The modern world was already changing at a dazzling rate before COVID-19 and if there’s one industry besides the healthcare industry that has been hugely strengthened by the pandemic, it’s telecommunications. During lockdown, the world became used to working from home and today we are more connected than ever before. Many people left their homes and worked remotely on destinations like the Mexican Caribbean and digital nomads, who were already on the rise, have been growing exponentially since 2020. 

Access to the Internet, recognized as a fundamental right by the laws of several countries and since July 4, 2018 as a Human Right by the United Nations (UN), has become as essential to people as electricity and water. 

According to the Mexican Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), there are 103 cellphones per 100 inhabitants in Quintana Roo, one computer in 46.2% of households and 80.9% of local citizens have Internet access. Interesting enough, Telecommunications infrastructure in the state was not even close to ready to attend this massive tourist and local demand that is, until Cancun-based company GigNet arrived, but we’ll get back to this. 

People in Mexico were used to experience bad Internet service: according to the Speedtest.net website, Mexico has practically the same Internet speed as Nepal or Mongolia. Historically, on average Quintana Roo had a speed like that of Nicaragua or Kazakhstan. Singapore, one of the world’s leaders in Internet speed, has 4.5 times the Internet speed of Mexico and almost 5.6 times that of Quintana Roo. 

So how could Quintana Roo have one of the most successful tourist destinations in the world and still lag on such an important matter due to lack of investment in modern fiber optic infrastructure? Should there be more effort into improving Internet connectivity by providing a service good enough to be at the level to match the Mexican Caribbean’s magnificent beaches, tours, archeological sites, golf courses, night life, shopping, customer service, gastronomy? Of course. 

One company is single handily helping change this. As I’ve mentioned before, the fast-growing company GigNet is helping connect hotels, resorts, retailers, offices, large commercial operations, governmental offices, medical and educational facilities as well as being positioned to offer fiber-optic transport services for mobile phone operators in the region as they transition to 5G, and has made a commitment to 100% customer satisfaction to all its clients having built a high-speed fiber optic backbone network withing 1/2 km of 90% of all hotels and resorts and major businesses. 

GigNet customizes its product in a way no other Internet provider in the area does by preparing the hospitality industry for the “tsunami” of digital needs they are now facing with a backbone of fiber optic of more than 400 kilometers covering the north area of the state where more than 85% of the economic activity takes place and are currently growing towards the south into the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto where the new Tulum Airport has started construction. 

I worked for the Quintana Roo state government from 2016 to 2022. My first three years were as the Under Secretary for Planning and Development of Tourism for the State, then as an Advisor to the Governor in two very important projects: the Tren Maya and the Nichupté Lagoon bridge. Up until September this year, I was the liaison for international media for the State. I’ve known GigNet ever since they started building their network here in 2018 and I’ve seen their rapid growth so with the change in State leadership I decided to join the company as their Director for Media and Special Projects. 

This past week we met with the State Secretary of Tourism Bernardo Cueto to discuss many ways to help prepare better for the tourism of the future in Quintana Roo, and we are planning to work on several joint projects with them including helping provide public Internet in major tourist areas and bringing excellent broadband to areas where currently there is little or no Internet service available. Extending broadband access to under-served communities is an important development goal for Quintana Roo, the nation of Mexico, and every member country of the United Nations, as access to Internet is a major U.N. Sustainable Development Goal. These efforts by GigNet are included in the Company’s “Silicon Maya” initiative that I will be writing more about in the future. 

I am excited to be part of a company that is not only a strong addition to the business community of Cancun and Quintana Roo, but a team that shares my hope in a better life for all residents of the State through access to world standards for broadband, Smart Homes, Smart Cities, and the benefits of digital transformation for healthcare, education, public safety, economic diversification, and employment growth. 

Luis de Potestad 

Director – Media and Special Projects 

GigNet SA de CV 

lpotestad@GigNet.mx