Tourist Revenue Rises in First Half of 2008

Valle de Bravo resounds with the happy tapping of hammers, the staccato rumble of road drills and is coated in sawdust and the fine grey dust of concrete. The lakeside town in the Estado de Mexico also has some new, young faces in the tourism office, opposite the sixteenth century campanario (bell tower).

Holbox means black hold in the Maya language. But the island's ominous name is belied by the shimmering turquoise waters that lap its soft, sandy beaches, and the bold azure skies that look down on its almost perfect isolation.

In late summer and early fall, Mexico's Pacific Coast welcomes the return of female sea turtles to the shores of their birth. By moonlight, they dig nests deep in the sand and lay golf ball sized eggs that will hatch 45 days later into hundreds of tiny offspring.

The Haciendas of Jalisco are often referred to as Mexico's “hidden gems,” but they’re not really so well hidden anymore. These amazing, restored historical mansions dating as far back as 1622 have been turned into luxurious hotels.

Mexico’s Pacific Coast has long been celebrated for its rich, mystical history and romantic tales steeped with pirates, plunder and quests for gold. Centuries ago off this coast, Spaniard Hernán Cortés first dropped anchor and dreamed of laying the foundations of a kingdom that would become Mexico.

The Western Mexican state of Jalisco likes to think of itself as a cultural microcosm of Mexico: an old tourism campaign used to bill Jalisco as “All of Mexico”. Certainly, being the birthplace of Mariachi music and tequila, Jalisco certainly has a claim to a large part of the Great Mexican Cultural Cliché typified by Pedro Infante in his movies, but popularized by Hollywood.