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10 beaches receive Blue Flag designation for a total of 63
Mexico leads the Americas for beaches that have achieved the international standard
Published on Thursday, June 11, 2020

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Mexico now has 63 beaches that have been awarded the Blue Flag distinction, an international standard operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education to certify that beaches, ships and marinas have met the organization’s stringent environmental, educational, safety and access-related criteria.

The Blue Flag is awarded by a national and international jury which announced yesterday the addition of 10 beaches to the list of 53 that had already been awarded the distinction. The decision puts Mexico in first place for the Americas in the number of Blue Flag beaches and 13th in the world.

Those added to the list, which will be allowed to fly the Blue Flag beginning July 1, include three in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, two in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero; two in Puerto Progreso, Yucatán; one in Tulum, Quintana Roo; one in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas; and one in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.

Baja California Sur leads the nation with 23 Blue Flag beaches, followed by Quintana Roo which has 21.

Among other requirements, Blue Flag beaches must offer environmental education activities, display a code of conduct, and provide information about water quality. Garbage cans, water, and restrooms are required, and lifeguards and first aid services must also be in place.

In municipalities with multiple Blue Flag beaches, at least one must be accessible for people with disabilities.

Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco announced the new additions with pride. “In this sense, and given the situation we are experiencing, safety, quality and hygiene take center stage, and initiatives such as the Blue Flag certification allow us to strengthen the image of Mexico worldwide.”

The new Blue Flag beaches are:

In Baja California: La Gaviota, Monument and El Surgidero, all in Los Cabos.
Guerrero: El Palmar III and La Ropa in Zihuatanejo.
Quintana Roo: Santa Fe in Tulum.
Tamaulipas: Playa Miramar in Ciudad Madero.
Sonora: Mannys Beach in Puerto Peñasco.
Yucatán: Malecón Internacional and Malecón Tradicional in Puerto Progreso.

Source: La Capital (sp), El Universal (sp)

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What do Blue Flag rules have to do with it? We live a few blocks from Blue Flag designated beaches on the Caribbean coast of Mexico and routinely take our umbrella, chairs and cooler to the beach.

The Blue Flag is a farce. Mexican politicians pretend a beach can't be kept clean unless they get a feather in their cap (aka political curriculum vitae) with the Blue Flag and its accompanying budget that they then use to pay political favors. For example, even though tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos disappeared into the black-hole budget of so-called remodelación of Paseo del Pescador, there isn't one single garbage container along the entire walkway, and like previous remodelaciones it is already suffering from a lack of proper maintenance, which may be a good thing... If only those darn too-bright lamps would rust and fall over and the beach reclaim a couple of meters that it lost. But I digress...

Since El Palmar was designated a Blue Flag beach the purchasing power of the tourists who stay at the hotels there has declined, and it shows in the lack of sales in the shopping centers, many whose merchants have had to close. It's been close to 20 years now and though I keep challenging the government for numbers that show we have received ANY additional tourism from the Blue Flag designation they have been unable to provide or even to fabricate them. Not one single tourist has come to Ixtapa because it's beach is Blue Flag. And I submit the same goes for Playa La Ropa. Purchasing power of the visitors we are getting is declining, shops and services are hurting and closing, but the government stubbornly insists on applying the stupid rules. While they can't prove we've received one single additional tourist, I can prove we've lost visitors, tourists and part-time residents.

In the case of my friend Memo, the Blue Flag and the pandemia are being used as an excuse to ban people from using their own chairs and umbrellas and from bringing foodstuffs to the beach, same as it's used to ban people from blasting their own music on the beach, but hypocritically restaurants are allowed to put their chairs and umbrellas on the beaches and blast their own music. WTF?

The entire Blue Flag thing is a farce and I'm trying to open people's eyes so we can ditch it and folks can go back to freely enjoying the beaches as we're supposed to be able to do. I don't have time to fight this battle, but you would think by now the lodging operators would be all over this, except of course those corporate-owned hotels that can lower their prices below that of any locally-owned lodging and write it off their taxes as they've been doing for decades.

You don't earn your living where you live so you don't have any stake in this beyond personal comfort, but my family had come to rely on a certain level of purchasing power among our visitors for us to make a living from so that we don't have to sell trinkets made in China like so many other shops are doing. First violence drove people away, but when they started to return the stupid policies of self-serving politicians began running them away again. And here we are. And too many people are just fine with turning Zihuatanejo into Disneylandia, desecrating our community, its values and its principles. Of course, if they impoverish and dumb down the population then folks will cheer the government when they are told paving the beach and chopping down its iconic old shade trees and putting bright shiny lights and painted concrete in their place is "progress". Like the old Roman adage: If a slave never learns the concept of liberty he will not strive to attain it.