MELIÁ TURQUESA CANCUN OFFERS ALL-INCLUSIVE PACKAGE

Guests at the five-star Meliá Turquesa Hotel in Cancun can now enjoy all-inclusive packages, valid through December 24, 2001.

The packages, priced from US$105.00 (double occupancy) per person per night, feature deluxe accommodations, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet, domestic drinks from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Mexican and Caribbean theme parties, safety deposit box, unlimited tennis courts use and room taxes. Children eight years old and younger are free (limit two children per room with two paying adults).

The 11-story Meliá Turquesa hotel is a Mayan pyramid-shaped structure with 450 rooms and suites. Each room has a water view, enabling guests to wake to brilliant sunrises over the Caribbean Sea's turquoise waters, for which the hotel is named, or view spectacular sunsets over the blue Laguna Nichupte, the lagoon that offers many of the area's water-sports activities. A daily activities program for children ages 4-12 includes sandcastle-building contests, painting and bingo. The resort is 20 minutes from the Cancun International Airport and close to area attractions.

Sol Meliá, Europe's leading hotel group and the ninth largest hotel company in the world, has a portfolio of more than 260 city and resort hotels in 28 countries under the brand names of Meliá, Sol and Paradisus hotels. The newest additions to the Group include 10 new properties in Paris, the Meliá Roma Aurelia (in Rome), Meliá Mexico Reforma (in Mexico DF) and Meliá White House (in London). Its properties in Asia include Gran Meliá Jakarta, Meliá Bali (incorporating The Garden Villas), Meliá Benoa (Bali), Sol Lovina (Bali), Meliá Purosani (Yogyakarta), Meliá Panorama (Batam), and Sol Elite Marbella (Anyer) in Indonesia; Meliá Hanoi in Vietnam; Meliá Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; Meliá Hua Hin and Sol Twin Towers (Bangkok) in Thailand. Sol Meliá has signed contracts to take-over and manage a further 60 hotels by the year 2002.

FACT SHEET CANCUN

The Mexican Caribbean

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Cancun is a 14-mile-long, bridge-connected island off the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula on the east coast of Mexico. The narrow L-shaped island's Hotel Zone, where the Meliá Cancun and the Meliá Turquesa Cancun Hotel are located, is flanked by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea and by the 20-square-mile Laguna Nichupte, the blue lagoon that offers many of the area's water-sports activities. Twenty years ago the Mexican government decided to transform the desolate island into a tropical tourism paradise.

In 1974 the international airport was opened, as were two hotels. Today there are 90 hotels and resorts with 18,000 rooms in Cancun. While Cancun Island is filled with new restaurants, boutiques, shops and nightclubs, the older commercial center of Cancun City and its 175,000 population is only 10 minutes away from Cancun Island.

CLIMATE

Daytime temperature in Cancun averages 80 degrees Fahrenheit year round, ranging from 64 degrees to 92. Nights in Cancun cool off with the sea breeze. Rain is most prevalent from mid-May to mid-June and during September.

TAXES

There is a US$12 departure tax when leaving Mexico. Most restaurants include a 10 percent service gratuity while a combined total service charges/tax of 15 percent is added to lodging bills.

EXCHANGE RATE

The exchange rate fluctuates. Exchanges can be made at the airport as well as at hotels

TRANSPORTATION

Cancun International Airport is only 15 minutes from the Melia Turquesa Cancun and is the headquarters gateway for AeroCaribe, a Mexican Airlines' regional airline which also has agreements with American, Continental and Northwest airlines.

Mexicana, Aeromexico and some U.S. carriers offer direct flights to Cancun from the U.S. while all major U.S. and Canadian carriers service the capital city of Mexico City. From Mexico City and from the international airport at the nation's second largest city, Guadalajara, regional carriers service Cancun International. Arrangements for taxis and rental cars can be made at the airport. Most hotels offer their own rental car service, as well as a travel agency that arranges tours. Bicycles also can be rented through most hotels.

UTILITIES

Electrical power is more than adequate to serve Cancun residents and visitors. Hotel rooms operate on 110 volts (U.S.). Cancun became the first area in Mexico to receive AT&T long-distance coverage, allowing visitors to place long-distance calls from their rooms while having access to an English-speaking AT&T operator. Cancun has its own water purification system, and bottled water also is available.

MEETINGS

The Cancun Convention Center, which opened in 1993, is located in the Hotel Zone and boasts a 17,000-square-foot ballroom.

RECREATION

Cancun is a treasure-trove for snorkeling, scuba diving, para-sailing, water-skiing, skin diving and wind surfing. There are several sight-seeing cruises, some on glass bottom boats, to such attractions as the bird sanctuary on Contoy Island. And there are dinner and party cruises to islands where the day's catch is cooked, and to coves where dinner is served by pirates. Bicycling from the Hotel Zone into Cancun City on a flower-bordered brick path to shop for bargains in silver, leather goods, crafted textiles, art and woodwork is a popular Cancun "sport," as is the Mexican tradition of bargaining over the cost of locally made items. While many visitors prefer the excitement of deep-sea fishing for marlin, sailfish, bluefin tuna and grouper, guests can warm up at the Melia Cancun's 18-hole, par-54 golf course before taking on Robert Trent Jones' Pok-Ta-Pok 18-hole championship lagoon course. There are bull fights every Wednesday, presentations of the Ballet Folklorico six nights a week, museums, all-night discos and outstanding night-life entertainment and international dining offered throughout the Hotel Zone and Cancun City.

Traditional Cancun food has a different "flavor" than traditional Mexican because there is less use of chili and because baked meat and fish are wrapped in banana leaves in Yucatan-style cooking.

MAYAN RUINS

Tourists can rent a car or take a charter bus tour to the Mayan ruins and pyramids that encircle Cancun and also can be found at El Rey near the Cancun Hotel Zone. The ocean-cliff-walled city at Tulum and the natural aquarium at Xel-Ha comprise a half-day tour while visits to the Chichen Itza pyramid and Balankanche Cave each take a full day. There are several other sites to explore in the mountains, jungles and islands outside Cancun, all of which can be arranged by the travel agency in most hotels.