!!!Cancun

Photo by Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

25 September 2013

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Cancun is one of the most famous resorts towns in Mexico visited by
almost seven million tourists every year. Half a million of local
residents are involved in tourism industry and work hard to provide
guests with high quality recreational experience.

Meanwhile, in 1970, less than half a century ago, only three people
lived here, and the only activity they did was looking after a coconut
plantation. Total population of the area was only 120 people, including
residents of neighboring fishing villages.

[{Image src='01_Cancun, Mexico.jpg' caption='Cancun, Mexico' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

However, excellent geographical location and climate prompted a resort.
But at the time there were no investors who believed that a coconut farm
could be turned into an upscale vacation spot, and the first nine Cancun
hotels were financed by the Mexican government.

Cancun is located on the sandy shore reminiscent of number "7",
measuring 400 meters in width and 30 kilometers in length. The quality
of Cancun's snow-white beaches is so high that not so long ago a wealthy
American businessman purchased several barges of local sand for his
country residence in New York.

[{Image src='02_Cancun, Mexico.jpg' caption='Cancun, Mexico' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

"Seven" divides this resort town in two parts. The smaller part is
characterized by a calm sea, because it's cut off from the ocean by Isla
Mujeres (Spanish for Island of Women). And the main attraction of the
longer stretch of the shore is constant unstoppable waves coming from
the open ocean.

Cancun waters attract not only surfers, but also scuba divers: the water
here is very clear, visibility in some places is 100 meters. Palancar
Reef stretches along the coast, which is one of the biggest coral reefs
in the world.

[{Image src='03_Cancun, Mexico.jpg' caption='Cancun, Mexico' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Year after year all of these sights attracted more and more tourists;
more hotels were built to accommodate the growing number of visitors. In
2007 the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) awarded
Cancun a price "for great achievement in development."

But beaches are not the only attraction of Cancun. This location is
historically connected with mysterious Mayan civilization: not far from
here you can see ancient stone walls surrounding Tulum city, and other
monuments of that era. Cozumel Island is another amazing place near
Cancun: besides its natural and historical attractions, the island is
also famous for its underwater beauty that appeared many times in films
of famous explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. In 2010 a unique underwater
museum was opened in the resort (or rather, in its waters): hundreds of
different sculptures were flooded as a base for the future coral reef,
and as a museum that can be visited by tourists.

[{Image src='04_Cancun, Mexico.jpg' caption='Cancun, Mexico' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Although some of these sights can't be found in our panoramas, we felt
that without this information you wouldn't get the overall impression of
Cancun, because this Mexican resort location is way more than just a
long shoreline of white sand with a bunch of hotels. It's an ancient
land with rich history and carefully preserved nature that wasn't
spoiled by tourism industry, but on the contrary, revealed its
uniqueness because of it.

\\ \\
[11 Panoramas of Cancun|Geography/America/Mexico/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Cancun]\\
[12 Panoramas added in 2022|Geography/America/Mexico/Pictures/Cancun-Part_2]  (Some photos added by  Stas Sedov)

[{SET customtitle='Cancun (AP)'}]  

[{Metadata Suchbegriff='Cancun' Kontrolle='Nein'}]