tl;dr – This city might be the epitome of a manufactured tourism development.
You’ve probably rolled out of the airport, hopped in a cab bound for the ‘Zona Hotelera,’ and started to sip down your first tropical drink all within a 23-minute window. Cancun makes that possible.
But did you know that roughly half a century ago, Cancun had a population of just three people?
Yes, it’s true. According to the Cancun’s wiki – “Cancún is a planned city, created to foster tourism. When development of the area as a resort was started on January 23, 1970, Isla Cancún had only three residents, all caretakers of the coconut plantation of Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez, who lived on Isla Mujeres.”
When you think of cities made almost entirely just for tourism, Orlando, Las Vegas, Dubai, and Macau certainly come to mind. Cancun, of course, has long been one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world – but its ‘manufacturing’ is perhaps less so obvious.
