Los Cabos in the early seventies was a small fishing town. This is the story how it became what it is today:
Short story, it was a government project from the touristic branch of the Mexican government called Fonatur. This article describes the long story.
Mexico is one of the few countries that develops and projects it's tourism from the state itself. The national trustfund for touristic development or Fonatur was created for this purpose that in 1974 t.
Background
In the seventies when bottom bells and malnourished models were all the rage the Mexican government and it's recent created Fonatur decided to promote five touristic enclaves: They were called CIPs. An acronym for “integrally planned centers” in spanish. This was the most important effort made in touristic matters up to date in Mexico. The main purpose of this project was to rescue from economic depression marginal zones that had touristic potential .
The characteristics that were sought after when choosing the ideal places to develop in this plan were:
- They had to be scarcely populated
- They had to have to have singular beauty in their landscape
- There should be enough land to develop
- The population should have limited options for economic development .
The original plan contemplated five towns to develop : Cancun, Huatulco, Los Cabos, Loreto and Ixtapa Zihuatanejo. All the infrastructure in this projects was to be built from the ground up to avoid all the problems associated with disorganized growth that older touristic spots like Acapulco were suffering from at that moment.
The plan
All five of the chosen places to develop were small towns with marginal economies at the time this project was initiated.
The first problem they had to resolve was adequate ways to get there, via air and/or land. So here in Los Cabos the “Carretera peninsular” or highway 1 was built. Or more exactly they finished a road that had been in construction for decades.
The CIP projects all had five points to consider and implement.
- New housing for the builders of the projects
- Golf courses
- Marina
- Hotels
- Touristic focused real estate
- Malls and commerce
From the five original projects Cancun was the most successful, up to the point that it surpassed by much it's original plan, overflowing into the surrounding areas. Los Cabos is a close second by also growing beyond expectations. Where the original project was for San Jose del Cabo, now we have a 20 mile long touristic corridor that includes Cabo San Lucas.
The beggining
It is common knowledge that Los Cabos had been visited by high rollers from the 50s, mostly for fishing and celebrities looking for a private secluded vacation spot namely the Palmilla resort. But before the Fonatur project the it was hard to get here for us mortals. You either had to be rich or a seagull.
All this changed in 1973 when “"Carretera transpeninsular Benito Juárez" paving was finished and opened for traffic. This 1063 miles long highway was the catalyst for a new era in Los Cabos. Now at least you could get here if you wanted to, not that there was much interest in the area yet.
It was also in this year that the dredging of the marina started., and almost a year later the sand dune had been worked enough to permit the first arrival of an oceanic ferryboat from Puerto Vallarta. A lot more dredging had to be done for the actual marina's size to be achieved.
In the beginning besides avid fishermen, only surfers and a few snowbirds came to Los Cabos through this highway. But in 1984 the first international airport in the area was built by Fonatur. And not long after, a great number of world class hotel chains became involved in the development of the fisher town in the middle of the desert.
Also in the 80s at the same time Michael was thrilling and disco was dying. Fonatur started to promote the projects by building golf courses to atract a higher income demographic. So in San Jose del Cabo they got Joe Finger and Mario Schjetnan to design and build the Mayan golf course, the first one of many to come. Immediately changing the landscape of the town and it's surrounding areas for good.
The results
So today we are sowing the fruits of this decisions and living in one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the world, and it is our turn now to keep the ball rolling and put our grain of sand to help Los Cabos become an even better place to live and visit.
The government's website says Fonatur's objective in Los Cabos and in all of it's projects is to propel regional development, and to improve the quality of life of the population by promoting the growth of the touristic infrastructure.
It is my personal opinion that the goal has been met. Could it be better? Yes everything can be improved, but it is also true that I am very happy to be living in this town and be able to enjoy and take advantage of all the beauty and opportunities Los Cabos has to offer.
questions? 
