Tourism Review
Most visitors to Catemaco arrive to visit the Basilica del Carmen and worship the local version of the catholic
Holy Mary who allegedly appeared here in the 1700's. These visitors arrive mostly by organized bus tours from
throughout Mexico.

Tourism  activity  is largely limited to visitors visiting the basilia, strolling along the Malecon in Catemaco City and
staring across the waters. Despite the lake's astounding beauty and reasonable climate, most of the laguna
shore is undeveloped and features cattle pastures, a giant tropical fern nursery and a few enclaves of shoe
string tourism.

Local hotels are mostly remnants from a construction boom 20 years ago. A chain hotel or upscale boutique
hotel have yet to arrive here.
Analysis

The closest major population centers are Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos, more or less 3 hours away, with maybe 400,000 inhabitants combined  that can
afford to take a vacation.

The next level is Orizaba, Cordoba, Xalapa, 4-5 hours away, combined contributing perhaps 150,000 travelers

After that come Puebla & Oaxaca, 6 hours away with maybe 250,000 combined.

Mexico City is legitimately an 8 hour drive and could contribute a few millions.

Considering weekend excursions, the first two groups barely make it, 350,000.

Puebla, Oaxaca, and Mexico City are out of weekend range, and barely qualify for a 3 day weekend or a 4 day puente.

The question now is who wants to drive for at least 3 hours to stay in chintzy hotels, eat common meals and see monkey asses? 1%, 3%, more? That is
anywhere between 4000 and 12000 visitors per year.

Add the short long distance travelers, maybe 2 percent, 5,000.

And some of the real long distance Mexico City multitudes, 10,000.

And a few others, maybe 2000.

Add maybe a 1000 gringos and other foreigners.

That adds up to 26,000 hotel staying visitors per year, divided by 30 hotels, averaging 865 visitors per day, averaging 3 visitor per day per hotel.


Add another 100,000 visitors who arrive by tour buses with home made sandwiches, urges to use toilets, and worship the Virgin Mary, and that will create
the Catemaco tourism picture.
Transportation:
Transportation is the thorn in Catemaco's development as a touristic destination of prominence.

Most locals acknowledge that when they return from other states in Mexico, they know they are
home in Veracruz, when the roads turn to crap.

High speed Roads "Cuotas":
Catemaco is served by the Mexican toll road from Matamoros to Cancun, with the closest
interchanges at Acayucan and Isla, both more than one hour drive away. Both exits are very poorly
marked with directions to Catemaco.

Access to High Speed Roads:
Isla: Because of frequent extreme flooding, the Isla access road to either Santiago or San Andrés is
generally terrible. Passing through San Andrés is generally impossible without getting lost.

Acayucan: the road from the toll road to Acayucan is well marked. The road from Acayucan to the
toll road is so badly marked, even I get lost after dozens of passages. The alternative passage
through the city center of Acayucan requires the assistance of a mind reader.

State Roads:
Mexico's federal highway from Veracruz  to Villarmosa passes Catemaco on the outskirts.
Both highways are 2 lane, generally without curbs and unprotected in areas of extreme drop offs. In
all of the hilly terrain of Los Tuxtlas there are no truck passing lanes. Crawling trucks, unwilling to
pay the tolls on the high speed roads, towing double trailers, present both a time consuming,
dangerous and irritating presence.

Road maintenance is abominable and unpredictable. One year the road is a pleasure to drive, the next
year it is pockmarked with craters and unrepaired washouts. At last count there were 88 topes
between Catemaco and Paso del Toro, with possibly another 30 of these oil pan killers to the city of
Veracruz.

Local paved roads:
Intra city and intra county paved roads generally are a nightmare. Usually it requires protests by
public transportation unions and political shenanigans to repair stricken roads, which usually results
in cosmetics that last less than half a year.

The road to Eyipantla in April 2009 is in better shape than the previous years.
The circumferential road from Catemaco to Montepio and El Tropical  is partially excellent in 2009, and
partially the usual nightmare, especially along the stretch contributed  by biologists in front of the
federal biology research station.

Local unpaved roads:
Although these are the life lines of most of the communities in Catemaco and Los Tuxtlas, their
maintenance is totally negligent and prey to political interference. The rainy season creates havoc on
most of these roads and they are only advisable to drive with advice from a local motorist.

Air:
The closest airports are 3 or more hours away. The physically closest airport of Minatitlan could be
reached within 2 hours, if a functional road system were in place.

A dirt strip airfield in San Andrés Tuxtla has become serviceable within the last year, and paving the
runway is considered a possibility.

Water:
Riverine: Although the vicinity of Catemaco, below Eyipantla, was an access point for commercial
canoe traffic in the days before the advent of the first local railroad, at present the river routes are
destroyed both because of snags in the rivers and concrete crossing built at river levels  in
numerous locales.

Marine: Although pirates are alleged to have found harborage on the coast of Los Tuxtlas, at
present there is no guaranteed access to anything with a draft  of more than 4 feet to Los Tuxtlas.

The nearby "port" of Balzapote is accessible to shrimp boats but provides absolutely no services .
La Barra of Sontecomapan is encumbered by uncharted sand shoals on its entrance to the Laguna
and thus unsuitable to any sailor.
Nevertheless there is a project in the works to establish Sontecomapan as one rung on the "nautical
ladder" along the Gulf coast reaching from Corpus Christy to Merida and beyond.
draft
Catemaco
Veracruz, Mexico