Puerto Vallarta, Mexico has become one of the most popular tourist resorts in the world. Since Vallarta is located along the Mexican Riviera in the Pacific, a large proportion of these tourists arrive by boat; major on large cruise ships, although many come to their private yachts.
Ten years ago, a cruise ship came to Vallarta every other day. At certain times during the “high season” from November to May, when the average temperature is 73 ° F, cruise ships will arrive almost two days in a row without any chance of rain.
Five years ago, the popularity of a cruise and, especially, cruising the Mexican Riviera, reached the point where you could find a cruise liner at the sea terminal of Puerto Vallarta almost every day, and sometimes a second cruise liner anchored in Banderas Bay. Then the passengers with anchor were sent to the coast in small tenders.
Two years ago, you could count on at least one cruise ship every day in Vallarta and often find one or two more ships anchored in the bay. The traffic was so heavy at the Sea Terminal that the authorities in Vallart began building a new sea terminal.
Construction of the new marine terminal in Puerto Vallarta was completed in early 2007, which increased the capacity of cruise passengers. Today you usually see at least two cruise ships docked at the Marine Terminal, and often three. The cruising trip to Vallarta became so popular that in the “high season” there are moments when the fourth ship should be fixed in the bay! On average, about 2,000 passengers per ship these results anywhere from 4,000 to 8,000 tourists arriving daily by cruise ship.
(As a note of interest, Puerto Vallarta International Airport was recently quadrupled to accommodate flights that arrive and depart all day, every day.)
Now that we are feeling the volume of cruise tourists arriving daily in Vallarta by commercial cruise liners, let’s look at those arriving by private yachts.
Ten years ago, Puerto Vallarta was home to a beautiful 400 yacht for private yachts ranging in size from 30 feet to over 100 feet. Nuevo Vallarta also had a marina with 380 failures for small vessels up to 30 feet long.
Due to the recent demand for additional slips, big skips, and yachting services, a number of significant new marina projects have been implemented; some of which have been completed, some are currently under construction, and some are still at the planning stage.
For example, the beautiful marina Nuevo Vallarta now has almost 250 misses for yachts ranging from 30 feet to 120 feet in length. The modern 50 millionth Marina Riviera Nayarit, located in La Cruz de Juanacastle, is approximately 40%, for a total of about 400 moorings for yachts from 30 feet to 400 feet. Fontatour, Mexico, the National Center for the Development of Tourism, has planned 150 masts with misses in its Phase 1 development program north of Punta de Mita. These berths will increase berth capacity from 400 to over 1,200 private yachts, thereby tripling the total amount of tourists traveling privately to Vallart.
Well, now that we feel the growth of the region of Vallarta and the volume of tourists traveling to Vallarta, we will not investigate what happens to these tourists as they arrive in paradise.
When tourists disembark from commercial cruise ships or their private yachts, they are first welcomed by the friendly faces of English-speaking Mexicans. Since the local economy is based solely on tourism, almost everyone now speaks a certain degree of English, and communication in Vallart is never an obstacle. Friendly faces, as shown in the Conde Nast review of his readers, where Vallarta was recognized as the most friendly resort in the world.
Of all the things arriving on cruise ships, you can first see Sam's Club, Mega Wal-Mart and a huge new modern shopping center; probably not what they expected to see in a sleepy little Mexican fishing village! Soon they discover that Vallarta is no longer drowsy or small, since its population has exploded to 350,000 inhabitants and by 2015, it is projected to reach 600,000 people.
Unfortunately, those arriving on cruise ships are usually allowed around eight hours in the city before the ship embarks on a journey to the next port of the Mexican Riviera. While in the city, they are given many options in the way of the city’s activities and tours. Some prefer to play golf in any of the seven great courses; others may want to take a four-hour boat trip or play tennis on any of the hundreds of tennis courts. Some of them take jungle safaris, quad biking in the Sierra Madre mountains or watching whales, snorkeling or swimming with dolphins. These less ambitious tourists see bus tours of the city, and then to beautiful areas, where multi-million dollar haciends and villas are located among the hills overlooking the Bay of Banderas.
Most of these cruisers simply catch one of the thousands of taxis and go to the city during the day, strolling along Malecon Beach, buying many boutique shops or dining at any of the hundreds of fine restaurants.
Regardless of what the cruisers do during their short stay in Vallart, they include all dignity, respect and friendship, and therefore they want to return to a longer time next time. Vallarta’s taste is so fascinating that, in all likelihood, their next visit will be in the air and last for a week or longer.
Those who come to their private yachts usually stay for longer periods of time. In fact, the quality of life is so great in Vallart that many of those who, fortunately, people who could afford to live anywhere in the world, just docked their yachts in Vallart and made it their winter residence. After all, Mexico was recently recognized as the best retirement destination in the world by the International Journal of Life, and many believe that Puerto Vallarta is the most desirable city in Mexico for retirement.
Summarize; what happens when tourists take a cruise to Vallarta is that they often become so passionate about the climate, the scenery of the mountains and the ocean, people, cleanliness, safety, accessible activities and the general quality of life that they either return, as in a short time, or they will simply remain, joining the other 50,000 North Americans who have made Puerto Vallarta their home for the elderly in Paradise.
