Cancún, in just few years, Cancún changed from a fishermen island with virgin jungles and unknown beaches into the Mexican Tourist Center most recognized in the world.
The international city of Cancún, with a certified tourism development, is located in the northeast coast of the State of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico; and politically, it is the municipal seat of Benito Juárez Municipality. In Maya language, Cancún derives from the words Kan Kun which means serpents nest, but in the other more accepted version it means the golden serpent place.
Most of the city has a warm and tropical climate temperate with marine breezes created by onshore winds.
According to the season, the temperatures ranges from 102.2ºF to 48.2ºF in January to June is about 82.4ºF during the day and 70.7ºF at night. The hottest temperatures are from April to September.
But, the weather is widely variable. For example in the winter the temperatures are below 68ºF or cooler, and luckily these periods do not take too long. During a single day, the weather would be shiny and bright, and hours later it turns dark and stormy, this is the main reason why is frequently see showers and rainbows through the year and specially, during the summer rainy season.
The humidity in the air is high over all the year because of its proximity to the Gulf; consequently it is always possible to rain associated with a tropical storm activity from May to December. However, there have been large hurricanes in Cancun in recent years, such as the Hurricane Wilma in 2005. It was the largest after the Hurricane Gilbert, which devastated Cancún in 1988.
Historically, Cancún was known as Ekab, Back Earth in English, when the Spaniards arrived and the language spoken was the Mayan. During and after the Conquest, most of the population died or left because of the diseases, wars and pirates arrival to the zone, leaving just few settlers in both Mujeres and Cozumel Islands.
But was in 1967, the Mexican Bank determined by studies that Cancún City had a big opportunity for capture more dollars and foreign exchanges through tourism development. So the Bank obtained $27 million in order to install the first tourist infrastructure on January 23rd, 1970.
Incredibly, in that time there were only three residents in Cancún and 117 people living in Juárez Harbour dedicated to the fishing; and actually the city rapidly grows, becoming 600,000 residents.
Currently, Cancún received at least 4 million of visitors per year in an average of 192 daily flights, so there are at least 150 hotels in Cancún, lodging about 24,000 rooms and 380 restaurants.
The city is notably divided in 5 zones: Hotel Zone or Cancún Island where is located most of the tourism activities; the Urban Zone where is situated the Cancun population; the Juárez Harbour or Tamtamchen in which is found most of the principal wharfs; the Franja Ejidal that lodges the most poor population of Cancún in irregular plots of land; and the Alfredo V. Bonfil Zone formed by the original colonists from the north of Mexico.
The Hotel Zone, the most important and shaped like a 7, has rougher beaches on the long side of the 7, but gentle surfaces blocked by the Mujeres Island on the short end of the 7. Hotel Zone offers its visitors whole types of accommodations, from inexpensive motels to luxury hotels.
Described as the Exclusive Zone, it also offers all inclusive hotels with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks as beverages; as same as, entertainment, water sports, upscale private residences, lavish condominiums, well-known restaurants, shopping places and clubs, supermarkets, American frnachises and many more international brands.
Cancun city is also attractive due to it has many cultural areas and archaeological sites such as El Rey ruins, El Meco, Coba, Muyil Riviera, Kohunlich, Kinichná, Dzibanché, Oxtankah, Chacchoben and Tulum; ecological parks like Xcaret and Xel-Há; and charming places as Playa del Carmen and Isla Mujeres.