Last Call for the Mexican Fiesta with a Cause! On Wednesday, January 15, the 7 Seas Seafood Grille Restaurant on the beach of the Cabo Surf Hotel in San Jose del Cabo will host the Mexican Fiesta fundraiser for The Boys & Girls Club of Baja California Sur. Enjoy a gorgeous sunset dinner with your feet in the sand and cocktails, Mexican dinner, live music and Live auction. Don’t forget to dress Mexican! Chef Javier Plascencia famous for his Jazamango restaurant in Todos Santos, Villa Saverios, Casa Plascencia, Café Saverios and Erizo in Tijuana, and his American venture, Romesco Baja Med Bistro, will be the guest Chef. Don’t miss it!
This is a First! Mexico Backs Off on New Tax. A new US $42 tax per cruise passenger that would have been implemented in 2025 has been postponed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, following strong opposition – and some subtle threats – from the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and the Mexican Association of Shipping Agents. The FCCA stated it was concerned the proposed tax would reduce cruise ship sales, which would affect Mexico’s economy and the income of residents of coastal cities. Cruise ship passengers were already exempted from the U.S. $35 tourist tax as they do not spend the night on land. Stay tuned.
Tourists Can’t Live Without Us! And we are sooo proud! The Travel Weekly’s Readers’ Choice Award chose our Baja California Sur state as “The Best Destination in Mexico” for the second time in a row. The recognition was delivered to Rodrigo Esponda, director of the Los Cabos Tourism Fund (FITURCA) at the Travel Weekly annual event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York! Oh, and there’s more. Condé Nast Traveler named the Montage, Four Seasons, One&Only Palmilla, Paradero Todos Santos, Zadun and the Baja Club in La Paz among The Very Best Hotels in Mexico. Congrats to all the Baja people who made this possible!
Oh No! We could lose the Blue Flag badges on the beaches of Los Cabos. The high number of umbrellas that are being rented by vendors affects the quality of Blue Flag-certified beaches, compromising cleanliness and safety standards.
The coordinator of Zofemat (the Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone) in Los Cabos, Rafael Álvarez, warned that the excess of umbrella rentals on Blue Flag-certified beaches is putting this distinction at risk. This distinction, which guarantees the cleanliness and safety of spas, could be lost if the activity of merchants in these areas is not regulated.
According to data from the Tax Inspection, more than a thousand street/beach vendors have been detected on the beaches of Los Cabos, of which only 600 have the required permits. The Blue Flag program, which is run by the Foundation for Environmental Education, which is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, has asked the municipality to take measures to regulate this situation and protect the certification of the beaches.
“Yes, because in the end we have rules and there are too many rented umbrellas, they have to get down to this. It is the issue of surveillance and control of beach cleanliness. Irregular vendors affect Blue Flag certifications. For this reason, we have meetings with businessmen and public security colleagues to carry out strategic actions that allow us to start with the whole of 2025,” said Alvarez.
Zofemat announced that, during the holiday period, a special operation will be implemented to supervise the certified beaches of Los Cabos, with the aim of avoiding an excess of street vendors that could generate negative impacts on public spas.
Currently, Los Cabos has 25 certified beaches, positioning itself as the tourist destination with the largest number of Blue Flag badges in Mexico and Latin America.
