The state of Nayarit is promoting a comprehensive reform to the Tourism Development Law with the goal of professionalizing timeshare sales and guaranteeing legal certainty for tourists, Nayarit’s Secretary of Tourism, Juan Enrique Suárez del Real Tostado, told El Economista.
“We are going to launch an internal campaign to inform the public that timeshares should only be purchased from hotels on an official list.” Establishments that demonstrate compliance with strict transparency and data protection criteria will receive an official badge or emblem that will allow them to operate under this marketing model.
This comes after the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Kovay Gardens resort last Thursday, after identifying it as part of a timeshare fraud network linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
In addition to deceptive sales practices and unauthorized excessive charges on credit cards; The identified resorts shared sensitive owner data with the cartel, which in turn contacted the victims, posing as lawyers or agents who promised to sell their timeshares in exchange for advance payments.
The state tourism department does not have a census of the timeshare market, as its objective is not to monitor sales, but rather to guarantee transparency in the procedures, “ensuring that what is sold is sold with an appropriate confidentiality agreement and that tourist data will not be shared with third parties,” the official explained.
The census will focus on “who is selling and how they are selling,” with the goal of implementing effective regulations that protect both tourists and service providers, encompassing everything from large hotels to small establishments.
The fraud network was located in the Banderas Bay area, shared by Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta. “In the state, one property was implicated; however, the center of operations was located in a completely different area outside of Nayarit. Out of a total of 700 hotels, only one had this status.”
Given this situation, “regarding the timeshare law, we are working with the different states of the Mexican Republic, which are also facing a rather complex situation, to align ourselves with a framework of greater oversight.”
The initiative will be ready within a maximum of two weeks to be submitted to the State Congress. It is an amendment to the existing Tourism Promotion Law, which will expedite its approval and clearly establish the operating regulations, which stipulate that establishments that do not comply may be closed.
The package of reforms includes modifications to tourism regulations, such as the creation of “high-traffic tourist zones,” which will allow the state government to intervene in those localities where visitor pressure exceeds the capacity of the municipalities to provide public services. Mechanisms will also be established to regulate temporary lodging services through digital platforms.
Nayarit accounted for 19% of all tourism investment in Mexico by the end of 2025, and the addition of more than 3,600 new hotel rooms is projected for the 2026-2027 period. The current supply consists of 27,000 hotel rooms, complemented by 6,000 temporary accommodations on digital platforms.
Source: es-us.noticias.yahoo
