Tours through harvest fields, CBD products, spa treatments, cannabis clubs…
The legalization of cannabis promises a lot in the tourism sector, since around the plant there are new business models that help move the economy of certain destinations or cities due to the attractive offer they offer to a particular niche of travelers. As an example, there are already cities where cannabis tourism is already a reality, being pioneers in this global trend.
This is how Lorena Beltrán, CEO and founder of CannabiSalud, the leading medical cannabis conference in Mexico, explains it. He explained that the most common international cannabis destinations are those where there is already a law or regulation related mainly to adult use, such as Colorado, which in 2014 was the first state in the United States to legalize its use and this has earned it a cannabis tourism stamp.
This means that the tourist will be able to find a whole variety of attractions and experiences related to the plant, regardless of the season of the year in which they take their vacations, with the possibility of staying in resorts where consumption is allowed.
Likewise, tourists can hire cannabis tours that can be both educational and recreational, offering tours of harvest fields, laboratories, dispensaries, cannabis clubs and more places of interest to tourists. Canada, Uruguay and Thailand, countries where there are laws that regulate medical, recreational and industrial use, are nations where cannabis tourism has grown.
The report ‘Cannabis Tourism: Opportunities, Issues and Strategies’ highlighted that 29% of leisure tourists in the United States are interested in activities and experiences related to cannabis during their vacations, such as visits to dispensaries, trying edibles or drinks with CBD and THC, experience a spa treatment with a CBD product, or try cannabis in a safe environment. The same report highlighted that a quarter of those surveyed had already traveled to a cannabis destination to have an experience, with the Millennials and Gen Z generation being the most avid of these trips.
But what happens in Mexico? Beltrán stressed that, like the vast majority of the potential related to cannabis, this type of tourism is not yet used in the country, although there are already cannabis destinations, such as the beaches. “Without a doubt, the legalization of cannabis consumption is a trigger for tourism. And it is enough to look at the behavior of the travel industry towards countries and cities where there is a law on recreational cannabis to recognize that it is a source of new income”, explained the co-founder of CannabiSalud.
He added that in Mexico there are gaps in the law that can be used to protect the right to cultivate, consume and transport cannabis and its derivatives for personal use, but not for commercialization, and it is at this point that cannabis clubs or cannabis associations cultivation are relevant, since they are spaces where you can inform about what is allowed and what is not.
“When talking about cannabis tourism, it is also the responsibility of travelers to find out, find out where they can buy, consume, as well as know the regulations of the destination to which we want to travel, inside or outside Mexico, to know the type of safe experiences that We can live. Mexico is already a tourist country, very attractive for foreign and national travelers, and in the field of recreational use of cannabis, tourism is going to skyrocket as soon as we have legislation,” said Lorena Beltrán.
as revealed REPORTUR.mxaccording to several studies in the United States, marijuana tourism has increased, as legalization in 18 states and Washington DC have shown the large influx of travelers, so destinations like Cancun and Los Cabos would have a tourist boom if Mexico will legalize it (Marihuana: Cancun and Los Cabos would have a tourist boom).
