Marías Islands, a tourist destination that is not prospering

Las Islas Marías, a resort operated by the Ministry of the Navy and promoted in the government of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, loses income and visitors.

The agency that manages this destination, located just over 100 kilometers from the coast of Nayarit, lacks elements to supervise its optimal functioning.

The 2024 public account report prepared by the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) details that income in that year was 22 million 406 thousand pesos, 40.3 percent less than the 37 million 531 thousand pesos in 2023.

Likewise, in 2023 there were 6,004 visitors and in 2024 there were only 3,902, a drop of 35 percent.

After the closure of the old prison complex, in 2019, the López Obrador government launched the conversion of the Marías Islands into a tourist destination managed by the State.

The project remained under the control of the Mexican Navy and was proposed as a regulated tourism model, with limited access and guided tours of the former prison facilities.

The initiative sought to combine historical memory and environmental conservation in an archipelago declared a biosphere reserve. With maritime routes from the Pacific and adjustments to basic infrastructure, the federal administration proposed transforming a symbol of the penitentiary system into a space for social and ecological tourism.

But the Secretary of the Navy, according to the ASF, has detected that “the vocation of sustainable environmental and historical-cultural tourism of the Marías Islands biosphere reserve is wasted for its enjoyment by tourists who want to visit or stay.”

According to the Navy, the drop in income and tourists in 2024 “was associated with a logistical restructuring in the scheduling of weekly sailings. Likewise, during September and October the reception of visitors was suspended, due to the rainy and hurricane season.”

The ASF report points out that in 2024 there was no adequate follow-up to the decisions made to coordinate the Marías Islands project; Added to this was the fact that the necessary resources to execute the tourism promotion program for that year were not authorized.

The Audit recommended that those in charge of the project meet at least twice a year to plan adequate promotion of the destination, as well as specify the resources and maintenance activities necessary to increase the number of visitors.