Mexico plans Mayan theme park

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Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced plans Monday for an 840 million US dollars Mayan theme park on the country’s Caribbean coast just north of the resort city of Playa del Carmen to rival the major theme parks in the United States.

"We're going to compete with other (parks) up there (in the United States), and I'm sure ours will be better," Pena Nieto said at a ceremony also attended by the Mexican investors behind the project.

The park, dubbed Amikoo -- or "friend" in the Mayan language -- will have rides and characters based on Mayan mythology and be built in two phases in the so-called Riviera Maya, a stretch of pristine beaches on Mexico's southeastern coast.

Pena Nieto said the park would bolster Mexico's place as a "high-quality tourism destination."

Mexico became the eighth most-visited country in the world last year, according to the World Tourism Organization, with 35 million international arrivals who spent some 19.6 billion US dollars.

Tourism represents some 8.7 percent of the Mexican economy.

Mickey Mouse gestures as he poses during the launch of Disneyland Paris's 20th birthday celebrations. /AFP photo‍

The move to challenge US theme parks such as Disney World and Disneyland comes at a time of tense relations between Mexico and the United States.

The two neighbors' ties have frayed since US President Donald Trump's election campaign was laced with anti-Mexican rhetoric including vowing to make Mexico pay for a wall on the border.

The new 120-hectare (300-acre) park will have attractions such as a flight simulator that lets visitors fly over popular Mexican tourist attractions, a mock submarine, and a pirate ride.

It will also have a 320-room hotel, a Mayan archeology and anthropology museum, and will dedicate 75 percent of its property to environmental conservation.

The first phase is set to open in November 2018 and the second two years later.

Investors say they expect 4 to 4.5 million visitors per year.

Source(s): AFP