Would You Pay $70,000 for Your Vacation? Don't Laugh, Many Do

Linda Landers and her husband, Jim, wanted to see the world but didn't have time to plan a complicated route hopping from one continent to another.

Then Linda learned about a $70,000 per person private jet trip that would allow the Arkansas couple to see nine countries in 23 days.

They booked immediately.

"It was such good value for what you got," Landers said, "even though it was a terribly expensive trip."

The Landers are members of an elite travel club that indulges in lavish vacations that go well beyond first class.

For those who can afford it, there are a growing number of options at the gilded top of the luxury travel market.

The Landers went on a trip, dubbed the Nine World Wonders, offered by tour company Abercrombie & Kent. It included stops at Easter Island, ruins in Cambodia, the lost city of Petra in Jordan and the pyramids of Egypt.

Linda works in home construction and interior design, and Jim is a doctor. She said that planning such a complicated trip would have taken a lot of time and research.

"We're both working so much. We didn't have time to fool with this," Landers said. We just wanted to get on the plane and relax."

Abercrombie & Kent took care of the couple's travel visas, hired guides, provided local currency at each stop and even arranged a private museum tour by the curator before the building opened to the general public.

"We didn't have to do a thing," Landers said. "It was like being the president of the United States for three and a half weeks."

Most Americans can't afford such a trip costing $140,000 per couple. That's more than three times the median household income, which stood at $46,242 in 2005, according to the U.S. census.

But those who can afford it are increasingly shelling out big bucks for grander vacations than those taken a generation ago.

A Growing Market

There is very little data on this market because it is so small, but what is out there shows the general luxury travel industry is growing at a steady clip.

On average, room rates for luxury hotels in the first three months of 2007 increased 7.2 percent to $292.51, while the overall hotel market went up 6.1 percent, according to Smith Travel Research, a hotel-benchmarking firm.

Luxury rooms were also occupied more often then regular rooms. The luxury segment increased occupancy by 2 percent, while the overall hotel occupancy rate stayed essentially flat, with a 0.3 percent increase.

"Luxury outperforms the general market," said Jan Freitag, a vice president with Smith Travel Research.

Even for Abercrombie & Kent, private jet trips are a very small part of the overall business. The company sells tours to about 20,000 people a year. Just 100 of those go for the private jet trips.
The company's first such trip was in 1989 and took travelers to seven world capitals, according to George Morgan-Grenville, president of Abercrombie & Kent's North American operations.

In the 1990s, the company ran private tours on the Concorde. After 9/11, there was not as much of an appetite for these trips, Morgan-Grenville said. But now the company is expanding the private jet trips again as the rich look for new and exotic adventures. Three were done this year, and six or seven are planned for next year.

Abercrombie & Kent's next private jet tour to South America will cost $73,750 per person. It sold out within three weeks of being announced.

"Nowadays, people want to be much more off the beaten track," Morgan-Grenville said, describing the trips. "The whole ethos of the baby boomer traveler, you can't cookie-cutter your services. Everybody wants something different."

That means that while there are 48 people on the tour, several small private side trips are built into the itinerary.

Morgan-Grenville said that his clients don't want to travel halfway around the world to go to a tourist restaurant.

"It's going to a little bistro that's tucked away down an alleyway that's not in a guidebook that doesn't have white-glove silver service," he said. "It might be a mom and pop little restaurant with four, five tables."

Morgan-Grenville explained that travelers today want to see more and more remote sites. But the farther outside populated areas they travel, the harder it is to find upscale amenities. In some places, Abercrombie & Kent has to fly in its own sheets and towels. Other times, creature comforts are sacrificed to lend a more "authentic air" to the experience.

"You can go and stay at a Four Seasons wherever you want. Today, it's not a novelty for people to do that. What is a novelty is having an incredible experience in an incredible location,"

Morgan-Grenville said. "The previous generation, they were very happy to be shown things. These guys, they don't want to see something. They want to participate in it."

The $30,000 Hotel Room

Other parts of the travel industry are also expanding their ultra-high-end products.
The Four Seasons hotel in New York has two presidential suites that cost $15,000 a night. The company won't provide detailed occupancy figures but says the suites are rented out more than half of the nights in the year.

For the past six years, the Four Seasons has been building a penthouse suite that will rent for $30,000 a night when it opens up this summer. The 4,300-square-foot room will have 24-foot floor-to-ceiling windows and cost $45 million to build, according to the hotel. Few details are being shared about the project, which will first be unveiled to the world in the pages of Architectural Digest.

Just a few blocks away, the Peninsula offers a two-bedroom Peninsula suite for $15,000 a night. If you've got a large, well-heeled group, a connecting suite can be added, bringing the nightly bill to $17,500.

If those rooms are booked, a rich guest can try the Mandarin Oriental across town, which offers a 2,640-square-foot presidential suite for $14,000 a night.

For those looking to escape the city, the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Mexico offers a five-bedroom suite for $15,000 a night. The 9,150-square-foot suite offers its own entrance, a private gym and spa treatment area, home theater and pool.

"Entourage travel is a growing segment, not only among celebrities, which we certainly get our share of, but also among families and business groups," Christian Clerc, regional vice president and general manager for Four Seasons said in a statement. "Those typically traveling with an entourage seek privacy, luxury and the finest experiences the resort has to offer.

Representatives of the New York hotels said the suites were most often booked by families.

Luxury on the Rails and Seas

For those who want to travel and stay on the move while catching some sleep, there are also plenty of top-end options.

The Venice Simplon Orient Express has long been known for its luxurious train travel.

The company offers several routes today, with the longest being the famous Paris-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul leg. The five-night trip costs $7,690 one way.

While some seek high-end travel as a way to escape into their own private world, the Orient Express lets people promenade in their best.

"The historic decor of the train and its atmosphere means travelers can never overdress on the Orient Express," the company said. "Evening wear for gentlemen is a business suit or black tie, with formal dinner dresses for women."

Those looking for even more flexibility can charter their own yacht. Some of the larger vessels can be rented for up to $180,000 a week. That does not include food, liquor, docking fees or fuel, which usually add an extra 25 to 30 percent on top of the rental fee. The crew will also expect a tip of 15 percent to 20 percent. Some of the super-rich have shelled out a shocking $500,000 a week for a berth on these super yachts.

Kenny Wooton, executive editor of Showboats International, a magazine covering yachts 100 feet long and larger, called these yachts "the best-kept secret in travel."

These boats typically can pamper six to 12 people and include large bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms and rooftop hot tubs.

Take Kaleen, a 130-foot yacht that charters for $80,000 a week from the International Yacht Collection in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The main stateroom features a California king bed, walk-in closet and the bathroom has a whirlpool.

Remember, this is a boat.

"If you wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning and you want a sardine omelet and they don't have sardines onboard, they'll send a diver out to get sardines," Wooton said.

The other advantage: "If you don't like the beach, restaurants, the town, you move," Wooton said.

So, where is the luxury travel market heading next?

Morgan-Grenville said that travelers will seek more and more exotic places further off the beaten track.

But, he added, the next big market will be travel to outer space, most likely beginning with suborbital flights.

"Part of travel is to include what is generally termed as bragging rights," he said. "You have to remember that only 400 people have been into space."

IRS US TAX RULES YOU AND YOUR CLIENTS DO NOT KNOW ABOUT FIDEICOMISOS AND MEXICAN CORPORATIONS

IGNORING U.S. INCOME TAX RULES ON OWNERSHIP OF MEXICAN PROPERTY THROUGH FIDEICOMISOS OR MEXICAN CORPORATIONS CAN COST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN PENALTIES!

(Your clients probably do not know about this rule, but should)

There are three serious potential IRS tax problems which may cause you or your American real estate and business investors in Mexico to pay tens of thousands of dollars in penalties. Each of these problems areas is briefly outlined below and be immediately communicated to your clients or and future buyers and sellers..

Foreign Corporations: Though the rules are complex, generally if a US person (Citizen or permanent resident) owns ten percent or more of a Mexican corporation, they are required to filed Form 5471 with their personal U.S.

tax return each year. Though this form usually has no tax effect, failure to file this form on a timely basis results in a $10,000 penalty for failure this return in time or never filing the return. This penalty may only be abated for reasonable cause which is not clearly defined. There is another form which must be filed when assets are transferred to a foreign corporation.

It is also important to chose the proper type of Mexican corporation to own your real estate of Mexican business. The type of Mexican corporation most commonly used can result in double taxation of all income on your US tax return and the inability to pay the lower US capital gains tax and take foreign tax credits for the taxes paid in Mexico when the real property owned by the corporation is sold. If the correct Mexican entity is utilized using the U.S. "check the box" regulations it is possible to take advantage of the corporations losses on your U.S. individual tax return, and take foreign tax credits on Mexican taxes paid by the corporation.

Fideicomisos (Foreign Trust): If you own your Mexican real estate through a fideicomiso (as required by Mexican law) and are a U.S. citizen you are required to file Form 3520 and 3520A each year. If you fail to file form 3520 in a timely manner there is a late filing penalty of 35% of the value of the assets in the trust. If you fail to file 3520A in a timely manner
there is a penalty of 5% of the value of the assets in trust.

Form 3520A is is due on March 15th following the end of each calendar year.
It can be extended, but the extension request must be filed by the original
due date. Form 3520 is attached to your personal tax return.

Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts: Form TDF 90.22.1 must be filed
separately from your tax return with the U.S. Treasury for each year you have more than $10,000 in one or more foreign bank accounts, stock accounts or other financial accounts. On this form you report the name of the financial institution, account number, co-owners, and range of balances held in the account during the calendar year. This return is due June 30th, following the end of the calendar year. It is not filed with your tax return severe civil and criminal penalties can be assessed if you fail to file this form.

Upscale and undiscovered on Mexico's Pacific coast

By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

PUNTA MITA, MEXICO — It's hard to say exactly when Punta Mita charmed me in spite of myself.

Maybe when I took that first sunrise walk on an empty, pristine white beach. I picked up a free souvenir: a speckled blue spiny lobster shell. I climbed to the top of a huge rock and did a few sun salutations. There were rose petals blowing around, the remains of a romantic dinner the Four Seasons Resort had staged for some of its guests the night before.

Or maybe I was hooked that afternoon on another quiet beach, one with harder-packed, also pristine sand that was easier to walk on, when I spied a great blue heron perched on a rock out in the surf.

Or maybe it was the moment Fernando handed me a beer in a tall plastic cup.

I sat with friends on the prow of a sailboat for hire. We felt like models in a Nautica ad — hair blowing, soaking up the spray and the sun and letting our psyches rock with the boat as it crested big waves. And Fernando, a tan, thin, good-looking teenager with bleached blond hair, was chatting me up in broken English. I was thinking that he probably picks up a lot of business out here for later, after the boat docks.

You may like to play golf, or you may love lounging beside a pool in a tropical environment. But, ultimately, it's the lure of its wild water that makes Punta Mita special.

About 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta in the state of Nayarit, it occupies the end of a foot-shaped peninsula cradling Banderas Bay, with its sole (and soul) massaged by the Pacific. The 9 miles of shoreline here are naturally "scalloped'' into coves and inlets, giving the beaches an intimate scale.

Scrubbed and designed for U.S. vacationers, the 1,500-acre development is a project of Dine, the real estate subsidiary of the Mexican conglomerate DESC. (It's not to be confused with the more accessible nearby town of Punta de Mita.)

Punta Mita is relatively undiscovered for a good reason: Imposing gates monitor access to each of the dozen or so resort communities within the main entry.

The hum of construction is constant. New villas and condos — which account for most of the lodging choices — are coming on line fast. While this building boom may not please everyone, the developers do not plan to line the beaches with hotels.

The still-growing Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita is the only viable hotel choice for now. Open about six years, it's a jewel in the chain, with four gourmet restaurants, three beautiful pool complexes, a small spa and a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course.

It's almost a shame you have to retire to an indoor room at night, given the stylish poolside cabanas that surround the adults-only pool area. They're outfitted with plasma-screen TVs, state-of-the-art sound systems, wireless Internet service and plush furniture. Champagne and caviar are served at the bars outside early each evening.

You know a place has arrived when the fashion world moves in. Punta Mita will get an added shot of glamour in June when Michelle Smith, the designer behind the upscale Milly line, unveils her Punta Mita Collection of chic dresses, swimwear, beach bags and sportswear at the Four Seasons.

A St. Regis resort with another Nicklaus-designed course is due to open in December — although when I visited in February, getting a beat on the layout required some imagination. The site consisted of strategically piled mounds of dirt, with a couple of concrete-block-construction offices.

I stayed at Las Palmas de Punta Mita, in one of 28 just-completed luxury villas along the Four Seasons' golf course. I enjoyed the indoor-outdoor bath, the sunny entry atrium and the gourmet kitchen but gravitated to the terrace and its plunge pool. It overlooked the fourth fairway, with a view of the Pacific and the golf course's famous ``Tail of the Whale'' green, which is perched dramatically on a small, rocky island. (During high tide, players access it by amphibious vehicle.)

Punta Mita Residential Concierge services can stock the fridge or send in a personal chef or a masseuse. Cheerful maids seemed to hover — each day, they sculpted the plush towels into animal shapes and laid them out with fresh bougainvillea blossoms.If you'd rather venture out to eat, several Residents Beach Clubs on the peninsula offer excellent waterfront meals, including delectable shrimp quesadillas, huge hamburgers and drinks.

You wouldn't know you were in Mexico if the friendly people didn't speak English with charming accents.

The exception is the small village where, according to our guides, Dine gave land to squatters who were living on the government-owned peninsula when development began. Aside from a few scruffy beachfront bars and restaurants, there's not much else for visitors there.

But natural wonders aren't hard to find, and outdoor activities are plentiful.

Walks along the beach turned up plentiful birds, the tracks of sand crabs and prints left by some kind of large cat — perhaps an ocelot. We also watched as a washed-up spotted boxfish became dinner for a black vulture. One night, a small fox darted across the road.

On the sailboat ride toward the nearby Marietas Islands, a sanctuary for marine life and birds that draws scuba divers and snorkelers, time-warp music blared over the boat's speakers: The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence. We were looking for humpback whales, which visit in the winter.

It might have been the music's weird influence, but I became giddy when we spotted humpbacks breaching in the distance — even though from our vantage point, without binoculars, I could see only waterspouts and poorly outlined tails.

Surfers have several good spots to catch the waves around Punta Mita. Sea kayaking, swimming with the dolphins, jeep safaris and canopy tours along zip lines in the Sierra Madre also beckon. There are plenty of things to keep vacationers busy for a week.

Or not. If relaxation is your goal, you can lose track of time here, blissfully, in a weekend.

Behold the Marietas Islands' blue-footed booby

By PEGGY GRODINSKY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

The Marieta Islands, a craggy, wild, grassswept national park off Punta Mita on Mexico's Pacific coast, are home to another of the area's famous natural residents: the blue-footed booby (Sula neboxuii).

The seabirds' shockingly bright blue feet are thought to attract the opposite sex. "They dive from sometimes rather large heights into the water. It's very cool," said Dave Mehlman, director of the Nature Conservancy's Migratory Bird Program. "They turn into living feather arrows as they plunge into the water."

Many boat tours depart for the islands from Punta Mita; the trip takes 30 minutes or less. Tourists would be hard-pressed to walk through the village without being offered a boat trip.

Spend day in Sayulita for a different shopping experience

Spend day in Sayulita for a different shopping experience

By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

SAYULITA, MEXICO — If you have a shopping jones and don't want to leave Punta Mita, prepare to spend big bucks.

There are upscale shops for clothing, gifts, jewelry and art at the Four Seasons Resort. But for something a little earthier, take a day or half-day trip to Sayulita, a small village about 30 minutes to the south.

Here, white linen resort wear gives way to the black cotton and tattoos of a global surf crowd and leathery ex-pats. Many of these folks migrate to other climates in the summer, when it gets hot and humid. One jewelry store clerk told me she spends her summers in Thailand. Tough life.

Among the cool shops to check out: Pancha Mama is a beautifully styled shop for hip clothes, jewelry and nice stoneware. At Galería la Hamaca and Cólores, indigenous arts and crafts are the draw, and a portion of sales benefits community projects. Try Rústica and Joyería Sol for locally designed jewelry.

Colorfully garbed Huichol Indians set up shop around the small zócalo for the tourist trade, proffering pottery pieces adorned with intricate beadwork. Other locals drive through the streets, selling fresh shrimp and seafood from the backs of pickups.

Along the back streets at the far end of the beach, you'll find entrepreneurial artisans who make fine jewelry and other goods.

Surfboards are lined up along the beach, a happening spot for 20-somethings.

There are casual restaurants here, too, with tables in the sand. You won't find a Starbucks in Sayulita — yet — but you can satisfy that frappuccino craving with a serious shake from Choco Banana, beside the zócalo.

Café des Artistes can be a gastronomic adventure

By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO — Even from the back seat of a van full of sunburned travel writers, Puerto Vallarta entices at night.

There's a carnivallike atmosphere along the famous Malecon promenade near the center of town. Turn inland a few blocks, and the quieter, narrow streets yield boutiques, art galleries and eateries that beg to be explored.

I felt like I was finally in "real" Mexico when we passed the ornate Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral. The doors were wide open, and dim golden light spilled onto the sidewalk along with voices from the small congregation inside, participating in a Mass.

Then came the best surprise of all — well worth an hour's ride from Punta Mita, indeed worth a trip from Houston: a religious experience of the culinary kind at Thierry Blouet's stylish Café des Artistes compound, carved out of a century-old home on the hill above the Malecon.

Comprising several "concepts" that have evolved over 16 years, Café des Artistes is a gastronomic adventure zone. The friendly, French-born Blouet — one of Mexico's top toques — delights in exotic ingredients.

In the main restaurant, Café des Artistes Gourmet Bistro, you're likely to find roasted sea bass consorting with spinach mousse and an eggplant marmalade; giant grilled scallops cavorting with a melt-in-your-mouth huitlacoche and potato Parmentier. Or Kobe beef with a pasilla chile sauce sharing a plate with a potato and bacon terrine, fried goat cheese and black beans. The cocoa and spice-spiked roasted piglet with a "hibiscus confit turnip" is another winner.

I could go on, but I'm getting hungry. Entree prices range from about 160 Mexican pesos ($14.50 U.S.) for a "Grand Vegetable Symphony" to 495 pesos ($45) for a 14-ounce rib-eye steak. A three-course, prix-fixe menu costs about $34, plus about $40 for house wine.

We were served (and served, and served) a tasting menu that would take pages to explain, each with its own wine — and I lost track of it all after the mirrored tray of a dozen or so deserts arrived and Blouet cheerfully brought out his best liqueur.

Although Blouet's meticulously-styled dishes clearly mark him as the "artiste" of the house, contemporary sculpture plays out the theme in several inviting environments. (You'll have to visit more than once to enjoy them all.) We ate under the stars in the lush, multilevel tropical garden. Another room is all candlelight, crystals and white walls. The Constantini Wine Bar, where 350 bottles are available by the glass, has a cool modern vibe.

Then there's Thierry Blouet Cocina de Autor, a stunning upstairs room that feels like the inside of a terrarium. Here, the chef and his army of sous-chefs whip up three-, four- and five-course tasting menus nightly that range in price from about $53 to $68 U.S. To finish off the evening, you can choose your own music in an intimate new Cigar and Cognac lounge.

Newcomers both friends and foes of Mexico's sea turtles

By PEGGY GRODINSKY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — You may not have flippers or a shell, but if you are among the growing number of tourists and expatriates captivated by the beautiful Pacific coastline north of Puerto Vallarta, you do have something in common with sea turtles: a taste for pristine, undeveloped, remote beaches.

Unfortunately, your needs and theirs may collide.

Three species of turtle — the Olive Ridley, Hawksbill and the critically endangered Leatherback — lay their eggs on the contiguous beaches of Litibu, Malinal, Punta Negra and Careyeros, a two-mile stretch of rapidly developing white beach and rock outcrops in the Mexican state of Nayarit.

Two years ago, expatriates living along those beaches began meeting over potlucks to talk about how to protect the natural turtle nursery. They've recently formalized a partnership with the nonprofit Grupo Ecologico Manos Unidas por Litibu A.C (Litibu Ecology Group). With the Mexican government's okay, expertise from biologists and backing from the expatriates, the group operates a turtle corral where the eggs can safely hatch.

"We want to establish the (nonprofit) before the hotels are developed, so that we can have some impact," said Susan Drexler-Price, an organizer of the grassroots homeowners group and former history teacher from Oakland, Calif. (Now, she runs the Pie in the Sky bakeries in nearby Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta.)

Sea turtles face a host of threats around the world. They get tangled up in commercial fishing lines and nets. Pollution makes them sick, literally. Some species are killed for meat, others for their shells.

In Nayarit, poachers steal the eggs for their alleged aphrodisiac effects, gulping them raw with lime and chili. Poached eggs can fetch as much as 10 pesos apiece, says Gilberto Galindo Castro, president of the Litibu Ecology Group and a biologist. At that price, a single nest containing about 100 eggs nets a poacher 1,000 pesos (about $90 U.S.). Compare that, he says, to Mexico's minimum daily wage of 45 pesos.

The Mexican government takes poaching seriously, he continued, assessing steep fines or jail time — "it's a worse offense than drugs" — but it lacks the manpower to prevent the crime in the first place or prosecute offenders in the second.

Rapid development endangers the turtles, too. Tourists, and locals for that matter, ride ATVs up and down the beach, potentially crushing the eggs. (Drexler-Price once stopped some riders to try to educate them. "So who are you?" one asked her. "The turtle bitch?" She jokes that she's considered making up T-shirts with the phrase.) Also, lights from mushrooming hotels and homes along the beaches confuse the new hatchlings, which make their way to the ocean by following moonbeams reflecting off the water. The longer it takes them to reach the ocean, the slimmer their chances of ever getting there.

During egg-laying season (June-December), volunteers from the Litibu Ecology Group, many of them university students, carefully move the eggs to the corral, meticulously recording numbers and nest locations. When the eggs hatch, which happens en masse, the newborns scurry across the beach to the sea. Volunteer Jamie Perkins says only one in 1,000 will survive to adulthood. Amazingly, eight to 10 years later, the female turtles return to their natal beach to lay their own eggs.

Efforts in Mexico to protect sea turtles are a patchwork of official and unofficial endeavors, according to Sea Turtle, Inc., a nonprofit based in South Padre Island. In the 1960s, Galindo Castro remembers "mucho, mucho" turtles on this two-mile stretch. (Careyeros, translates as "turtle hunter beach," indicating the turtles have come here, and men have killed them, for quite some time).

Then the government said it was okay to harvest them, and their numbers plummeted. When the government changed its mind and changed its policy beginning in 1990, Galindo Castro says the numbers went up again. Since that about-face, SEMARNAT (Mexico's equivalent of our Environmental Protection Agency) has operated a corral in Nuevo Vallarta, about 10 miles from Litibu, last year gathering eggs from some 4,000 turtle nests to better the hatchlings' chances for survival. His own group hopes to relocate eggs from 200 sea turtle nests in the coming season.

There are seven sea turtle species in the world. All are endangered, some, including the leatherback, critically. Why bother to save them?

"Biologists could tell you we don't know exactly what could happen ... if they become extinct, probably something dramatic," Jeff George of Sea Turtle Inc., said during a telephone interview. "We can't tell you exactly how (things) would fall apart, but we know enough about their diet to theorize."

He gave a "for instance." Some sea turtle species eat jellyfish like they are going out of style. If the turtles weren't around to eat the jellyfish, the jellyfish population would explode. The hungry jellyfish hordes, in turn, would gorge on zooplankton. That's bad, very bad, as plankton is vital for healthy seas. Or suppose the sea turtle species that George described as the "lawnmower of the ocean" went extinct. Its dietary habits ensure healthy seagrasses, where it just so happens fish lay eggs and shrimp spawn. Should those turtles disappear, it doesn't look so good for fish or shrimp, either. Or for us.

Sitting at a beachside restaurant not far from the nesting grounds she dreams of protecting, nibbling on chips and sipping a cool drink, Drexler-Price, a layperson, sums up. "Basically," she said, "it's our future."

Mexican fishing village retains rugged charm

10:00 PM
PDT on Saturday, April 14, 2007
By JASON BLEVINS
The Denver Post

SAYULITA, MEXICO - Legend holds that those who drink the water in this whimsical fishing-village-turned-surf-hideaway will fall prey to the region's siren song, assuring not only several return trips but a lifetime spent snaring others under Sayulita's salty spell.

Wedged between dense jungle and the Pacific Ocean, this once-humble village has become the sandy metropolis of Nayarit, the coastal state north of bustling Puerto Vallarta.

That's not to say that 3,000-resident Sayulita is anything like its sprawling, resort-rich neighbor to the south. It's just that Sayulita's four square blocks of beachfront fun ranks as the largest village among Nayarit's bounty of not-quite-remote but lonely oceanfront hamlets.

Villa Amor overlooks the bay at Sayulita, Mexico. The village's hotels are cozy and affordable.

Sayulita's fishing economy slowly began to give way to tourism in the mid-1960s.

In the 1970s the government, as part of a nationwide urbanization effort, erected a town square in Sayulita and flanked it with new buildings. Still, the village spent three decades off the beaten path of barefoot tourists, happily hiding in the shadows of the big-box hotels emerging in Puerto Vallarta.

The quiet villages of Nayarit have always been popular with Mexican vacationers from Guadalajara and Mexico City, but among others, word of the region's treasures rarely trickled beyond the secretive sect of vagabond surfers.

But, as with every hidden paradise, word spread. Outside Magazine in the late '90s whispered to its half-million subscribers that Sayulita was top-shelf for anyone seeking a southern tropical getaway sans doorman.

Bulldozers started forging farther up the jungled ridges above the surf, clearing roads for palatial homes for outsiders. Cobblestone avenues in Nayarit's Sayulita, Punta Mita, San Francisco and even Lo de Marcos now host plenty of real estate offices.

Despite its "discovery," Sayulita remains rootsy with delicious food, comfy and affordable hotels, lodges and homes, and a mostly happy-to-see-you local population.

It remains the more rough-hewn, adventuresome alternative to Puerto Vallarta -- a perfect place for the folks more apt to name the scurrying sand crabs living in the bathroom and feed the geckos on the porch.

Golf growth moves beyond America and Britain

From China to Mexico to Ukraine to Dubai, most fairways still are part of residential projects

By: Kevin Brass

Published: April 12, 2007

Now that Britain is saturated with fairways, greens and bunkers, David Hemstock, a golf course architect, travels the world looking for work.

"In the U.K. we're golfed up," said Hemstock, who has run his own design firm, David Hemstock Associates of Derbyshire, England, for 16 years. Once focused on business within the country, he now designs courses in China, India, Romania and even Ukraine, where he is helping to build that country's first courses.

"Odessa could be the new Bulgaria," Hemstock said, referring to the southwest Ukraine's potential as a sunny second-home market.

The continuing growth of luxury residential and resort development around the world is fueling a high-stakes competition in the traditionally staid community of golf course designers.

Architects are increasingly trying to top each other with elaborate layouts and spectacular water elements to woo homebuyers to international projects.

Today, three-quarters of all the golf courses planned or under construction are outside the United States, Britain and other traditional golf centers, according to industry estimates. With 17,000 courses already open in the United States, for example, the number of new 18-hole courses opening there plummeted to 119 in 2006 from a peak of 398 in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

Of the courses being developed around the world, 70 percent are tied to real estate developments, a much larger proportion than ever before, according to Keith Carter, managing editor of Golf Inc., a U.S.-based industry magazine. And a well-known course architect can add more than 20 percent to the value of a development's houses and jump-start a project, industry executives say.

"The name gives credibility to a development," said Alan Mishkin, president of U.S.-based Abigail Properties, which is building Las Palomas, a residential and golf project in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.

"Golf courses are not money makers," he said. "They're the sizzle on the steak" of residential developments.

The focus on houses - and the resulting demand for boldfaced names - has prompted a flood of pro golfers into the design business, led by stars like Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Gary Player. In December the sport's biggest name, Tiger Woods, formally entered the competition with the announcement of his first signature course - part of a $7.5 billion residential and entertainment complex in Dubai.

"If the goal is to sell real estate, the smaller guys are probably not even going to have a shot" when it comes to selecting who will design a development's course, Carter said.

But some developers say they do not really want or need to pay top golfers for their projects, particularly because some stars have little involvement in the work other than showing up at an opening ceremony.

"I don't necessarily buy into it as a developer or as a golfer," said Brian Dobbin, chief executive officer of Newfound Property International, a London-based company that is developing projects in Canada and the Caribbean. "I want to go to a course because it is designed well."

In addition, fees for top designers are skyrocketing, prompting many developers to think twice before signing on with a big name.

The legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, one of the granddaddies of the design business with more than 300 courses to his name, usually charges a minimum of $2.5 million, plus a cut of residential sales, for his signature on a course, according to Paul Stringer, senior vice president of business development for Nicklaus Design, which is based in Florida. (Architects's pay typically is 6 to 12 percent of the overall budget for the course, depending on the design services that are to be provided.)

And, following the market, international courses now represent 75 percent of the business for Nicklaus Design, up from 25 percent four years ago, Stringer said. The firm has 118 courses either under construction or in the planning stages, including 14 courses in Mexico and another 12 in the Caribbean. In addition to the Middle East and South Africa, Asia has also developed into a primary focus for the company, with new courses under construction in Vietnam and Cambodia.

"In the '80s we did a lot of work in Japan, and then that slowed down," Stringer said. "Now Korea is in the role of the new Japan."

The number of courses in Eastern Europe alone has grown to 134 in 2006 from fewer than 10 in 1992, according to a study by KPMG Advisory, a consulting company based in Bucharest. And as in the rest of the world, the majority of them are tied to residential developments.

To encourage growth in Eastern Europe and Russia, golf course designers are routinely stepping outside their traditional roles to join the development team early in the process, and in some cases they are even helping with financing.

"The competition is so fierce, you have to bring extra value," said Quentin Lutz, vice president for global business development of Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates, a U.S.-based design company.

Even the most basic project now requires a dramatically expanded set of skills, designers say. Beyond tee elevations and pin placements, designers have to be experts on water conservation, agronomics, government regulation and environmental policy.

"The planning process is much more rigorous these days," said Ken Moodie, president of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, which is based at Chiddingfold Golf Club in Chiddingfold, England.

The good news for designers is that high demand for new courses is expected to continue.

According to a study by Ennemoser Consulting of Innsbruck, Austria, the number of golfers worldwide is expected to grow by 35 percent by 2010.