Grupo Xcaret’s Xibalbá Park in Valladolid is still in stand by due to environmental reasons

The controversy surrounding the construction of Grupo Xcaret’s Xibalbá park in Valladolid continues, and Semarnat released a resolution declaring that the “Xibalba Ecotourism Development” additional works do not comply with the environmental impact assessment.

VALLADOLID, YUCATAN.- The Xibalba project was supposed to be inaugurated on December 12, 2020.

The place was built on a 250-hectare plot of land in the municipality of Valladolid, near the towns of Yacolbá, X’Tut, and Sisbichén.

The main attraction of Xibalbá was a circuit of eight cenotes with closed, open, and semi-open characteristics.

The tour of Xibalbá was estimated to last between five and six hours and would start at the cenote called Zopilotes, where there will be a shop, lockers, bathrooms, and dressing rooms.

The idea was to visit the seven cenotes aboard a kayak.

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) declared that the environmental impact assessment of the “Xibalba Ecotourism Development, additional works” turned out negative.

In the published resolution they explain that the company Xenotes Mágicos, which works for Grupo Xcaret, violated the preventive nature of environmental legislation by carrying out additional works to those that were authorized in 2016 and 2020, which led to the closure of the project on May, 2nd.

On May 11, through official letter number 726.4/ UGA-0783, signed by Hernán José Cárdenas López, the decision was notified to the company, linked to Grupo Xcaret.

In this way, Xenotes Mágicos must comply with corrective and urgent measures that, at the time, will be imposed by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa).

TYT Newsroom