Verena Gerber, owner of a successful hotel south of Cancún, on the Caribbean
coast of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, decided to build a lodge in a
remote natural area on the western side of Yucatán to serve people who
enjoy vacationing in nature. She had become disillusioned with the changes
in the flavor of tourism along the Caribbean, as her previously tranquil lodge
became surrounded by intense development. With strongly held environmental
ideals and goals, she initiated the purchase of 530 hectares of
mangrove swamps, coastal dunes, and a coconut palm plantation on the
undeveloped Gulf of Mexico coast of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Her land adjoined Ría Celestún, a protected natural area owned by
the Mexican government, which attracts the world’s largest colony (20,000)
of greater flamingos during the winter, and over 350 other species of birds.
Three species of endangered sea turtles nest on the quiet beaches of this
area. Ms. Gerber opened an ecological hotel on her property, naming it Eco
Paraiso (Ecological Paradise). To better serve nature-oriented tourists, she
hired one of the best local naturalists to guide guests on a variety of nature
tours and employed a biologist to manage the lodge. His special strengths
were adhering to ecotourism ideals and educating tourists. He developed a
natural history museum in a room in the reception center and worked at Eco
Paraiso for three years. The hotel has consistently employed eight people
full-time, including one expatriate manager and seven nationals.
The occupancy rate of Eco Paraiso increased slowly, from 9.5 to 22 percent.
In the past year an average of 3.3 rooms were occupied per night. The
lodge’s direct and indirect variable costs comprised about 40 percent of the
rooms revenue, consistent with the hotel industry’s typical margin of approximately
60 percent. The “high season” was November through April, when
occupancy rates averaged about 34 percent. During the “low season” from May
to October, occupancy rates averaged around 14 percent. Ms. Gerber calculated
her break-even occupancy rate at 55 percent.