Four decades ago, Cancun was a deserted island and few even knew of its existence. Located in a nearly forgotten region of the Caribbean, it consisted of a series of sand dunes in the shape of a number "7" (some parts of which were only 20 meters (66 ft) wide) separated from the mainland by two narrow canals that opened out on to a huge lagoon system. The island was home to three caretakers of a coconut plantation and small Pre-Columbian ruins of the Maya civilization. The coast was comprised of marshes, mangroves, virgin jungle and unexplored beaches.

During the 60's the Mexican government's priorities were to promote existing tourism destinations, diversify tourism products and seek out other possibilities for development based on the avante garde idea of the time: building integral tourism-based cities from scratch. In 1969, after evaluating dozens of potential locations, the Bank of Mexico began development of five integral tourism destinations among them, Cancun.

Cancun was chosen for numerous reasons such as the natural beauty of the area and its proximity to some of the world's most famous Mayan archeological sites. The Government saw an opportunity to compete with other tourism destinations in the Caribbean basin by taking advantage of the miles of magnificent white sandy beaches. The Cancun project also helped foster development of the recently-created State of Quintana Roo.

In 1974, the first hotels opened (Playa Blanca, Bojorquez and Cancun Caribe), the international airport was inaugurated with 2,600 meters of runway and operating capacity for wide-cabin airplanes, and the governmental agencies, Infratur and Fonatur, were merged to form the National Foundation for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur).

The rest as they say is history. The city grew by leaps and bounds encountering set backs along the way but to date, Cancun has been the nation's most dynamic city. It contributes a large percentage of Mexico's tourism-related revenue and accounts for much of Quintana Roo's gross domestic product. There are currently more than 750,000 inhabitants in the urban area. Cancun has become the country's largest tourism resort and is the most prosperous city in the Yucatán Peninsula. It is also the Caribbean's premier destination, surpassing even the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.