Royal Resorts receives an accolade for its turtle conservation work
Royal Resorts and The Royal Sands recently received an accolade from Cancun City Hall for participation in the annual turtle conservation program. The award was presented by the Benito Juarez Municipal Ecology department at an event honoring local hotels and resorts that support this important work.
During the summer nights, members of The Royal Sands security team patrol the beach on the lookout for female green and loggerhead turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. They silently watch over these huge creatures as they dig their nests in the sand, keeping bystanders at a distance. They then carefully collect the precious eggs, moving them to a corral where they will be safe from the waves and predators such as gulls, frigate birds and crabs. They even dig a nest in the sand that has to be the same shape and depth as the turtle’s original nest. Forty-five to 60 days later, the eggs hatch and the baby turtles or tortuguitas are released to scuttle down the beach and into the waves to begin life at sea.
Defying heat and insects, through wind and rain, our turtle guardians stand firm.
In 2024, they protected 229 nests and released 19,393 turtles in a labor of love for Cancun’s special summer visitors that dates back to 1985 at Royal Resorts. Since 1998, when official record keeping began, more than 1.2 million hatchlings have been released by our staff.
All our team members look forward to welcoming thousands more turtles to the world this summer.
Conservation and green initiatives at the resorts
The turtle program is one of Royal Resorts’ many conservation initiatives. The Royal Resorts Foundation gives an annual donation to local NGO Amigos de Sian Ka’an to protect the area’s precious ecosystems and rare wildlife. The company also has many green initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint, such as solar panels at The Royal Sands, recycling, reducing the use of plastics and switching to eco-friendly products such as biodegradable straws, food packaging and cleaning products, going paperless with online technology, and more.
