Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta have been selected and recognized as two of the most competitive small cities with 250 to 500 thousand inhabitants. Apparently, Cabo has stood out for its tourism and infrastructure, according to The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), which prepares the Urban Competitiveness Index (ICU) every year to evaluate the performance and challenges of each city.
Using 69 indicators in 10 subindices, the index analyzes 66 cities, where more than 62% of Mexican citizens live.
Monterrey from the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon, is the most competitive city among the largest such cities, followed by Saltillo, Querétaro and Guadalajara. In medium-sized cities, Durango and Mazatlán occupy the top two places. La Paz occupies third place with medium-high competitiveness among the medium-sized cities. Chilpancingo, on the other hand, has the lowest performance due to poor working conditions. Although crime has remained high nationwide, Mexican cities have improved their perception of safety and have reduced serious crimes such as homicides and other non-life-threatening, law-breaking offences such as vehicle thefts.
Tourism of course has been key for Los Cabos, which also stands out with its safe conditions and infrastructure within the annals of the Mexican Law subindex. It is the city with the highest occupancy and has the second-largest flow of international passengers. Its infrastructure facilitates connectivity; wherefore, it is the second city with the most air traffic and the third with the most homes that possess mobile phones.
However, in Los Cabos, there is a disparity in terms of social infrastructure. There are marked problems of poverty, irregular settlements, a deficit of drinking water that can take up to two months to reach homes, problems with garbage collection and serious mobility problems, all of them unresolved by local authorities and city administrative leaders.
Let’s take the lack of water issue for instance. While neighborhoods suffer from lack of water, there are literally hundreds of ‘Pipas” – water trucks ‘ that move throughout our vacation paradise loaded with water delivering it wherever people can afford to pay for it. A cistern household with volumes between 5,500 and 7,500 litres (1,200 to 1,650 gallons) costs about $1,000 pesos ($450 USD). To fill a tinaco, the big water containers found on most Mexican house roofs, is $300 pesos ($14 USD) for about 1100-1200 liters. There is water, we just must continuously pay for it whenever we run out, due to the city’s infrequent water fills in our underground cisterns.
But alas, I digress, it’s nice that Los Cabos is recognized for something good, other than our dream getaway vacation resorts, hotels, beaches, food, fishing, and local Mexican hospitality.
