Puerto Peñasco is a small city located in the northwest of the state of Sonora about 100 km from the Arizona border. It is located on the small strip of land that joins the peninsula of Baja California with the rest of Mexico. For most of its history, the area has been associated with fishing, which is still a major source of income. However, since the 1990s, there has been a push to develop the area for tourism, as it is already heavily visited by people from Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas and California. Puerto Peñasco is often called “Rocky Point” in English, and has been nicknamed “Arizona’s beach” as it is the coast closest to the major cities of Phoenix and Tucson, and many Arizonans spend weekends here. Until the 1990s, there had been little tourism here except for campers, fishermen and those looking to take advantage of Mexico’s legal drinking age of 18. The municipality’s pristine beaches with clear waters stretched for a hundred miles north or south with almost no development. The push to make Puerto Peñasco or Rocky Point a major tourism center was initiated in 1993, with the government joining with private investors to build condominiums and other facilities. The goal has been to take advantage of the area’s proximity to the United States and Arizonan’s preference to spend beach weekends here. Between 2002 and 2007 economic growth here was at twelve percent.Much of the inspiration for the effort came from the success of Cancun, which nearly virgin beach before a government/private venture developed it. Another reason to look to tourism was the declining catches of fishermen here, due to overfishing. The federal government contributed two billion pesos in infrastructure, especially roadways and an airport and the area was declared a free zone, meaning foreigners could visit the area without a visa. The government is negotiating with companies such as Marriott and Carnival Cruise Lines to build facilities here. The airport has started receiving planes from the Los Angeles International Airport and the new highway shortens the drive from California by 100 miles. After fishing, tourism is the most important economic activity for the city. Development to date includes three Golf Courses, seventy restaurants, forty two hotels and motels and fourteen RV facilities. |