Apple, Aeromexico betting on potential of sleepy Huatulco By Michelle Baran

Apple, Aeromexico betting on potential of sleepy Huatulco

By Michelle Baran

HUATULCO, Mexico — This month, Apple Vacations partnered with Aeromexico to charter the first-ever nonstop flight from Los Angeles to the emerging southern Mexico resort area of Huatulco.

The move is part of a larger strategy to develop tourism along this stretch of Oaxacan coast at a sustainable pace.

"We would love to see more development, but in a very controlled way," said Mark Noennig, Apple Vacations vice president and general manager.

Noennig said Huatulco, which is much less developed than the popular Mexican resort areas of Cancun, Riviera Maya, Yucatan, Baja and Acapulco, "is a more authentically Mexican destination offering beautiful scenery," with ocean and mountain backdrops and "more laid-back than other resorts."

Huatulco was established as a resort development area by the Mexican government in the 1980s.

But unlike some of Mexico's densely developed areas, this stretch of coastline has developed slowly, giving it a quieter, more detached feel.

It has also been developed with an eye toward environmental preservation of its rich, hilly jungles that end in rocky cliffs and sandy beaches along the Pacific Ocean.

The challenge is maintaining what differentiates this place from other Mexico beach areas while continuing to increase tourism, which has become the dominant industry in this sleepy corner of southwestern Mexico.

For now, Huatulco presents greater value than other Mexico resort towns, Noenning said, in part because there is less airlift, meaning hotels in Huatulco are more aggressive with their rates.

Apple Vacations is committed to finding the right supply-and-demand balance.
Huatulco has only a handful of larger resorts — Dreams Huatulco Resort & Spa, Hotel Barcelo Huatulco, Quinta Real Huatulco and Camino Real Zaashila Huatulco — in addition to smaller boutique hotels and vacation condos and villas.

A year ago, a new Secrets Huatulco Resort & Spa opened, helping to boost capacity and giving Apple the incentive to create the Los Angeles charter. (Apple Vacations' parent company, Apple Leisure Group, also owns AMResorts, which owns the Secrets and Dreams resort properties.)

For the slower summer season, Apple has contracted a partial charter with Aeromexico for a weekly Los Angeles-Huatulco flight that runs from June 7 to Aug. 9, joining direct flights from Chicago and St. Louis. This winter, Apple will fly here from Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Louis.

To further develop, Huatulco needs more resort properties and more and fuller flights arriving, but almost everyone in the trade here agrees that growth should be slow and steady.

A property manager for My Huatulco Vacation, a company that manages and rents vacation homes and villas here, said she was happy that, for instance, there are restrictions on how tall resorts can be — something that keeps the coastline from looking like the string of hotel towers that other popular Mexico beach destinations have become.

That said, "the biggest issue preventing aggressive risk expansion to Huatulco is the limited number of available hotel rooms," Noennig said. But, he cautioned that "Huatulco does not need 20 or 30 more resorts but rather a handful of new hotels from popular brands [that] would boost demand even more."

Ultimately, Apple would like to make Huatulco a year-round destination.
Follow Michelle Baran on Twitter @mbtravelweekly.