Sources in the Mexican government and law firm, Basham Ringe and Correa, told Milenio newspaper last week that the investment needed for the new Riviera Maya International Airport in Tulum will be $544 million.

In the same week, competition to bid for the contract heated up, as Cancun airport operator, ASUR, confirmed it would be entering the competition.

The sources told the Mexican national daily that the first phase of the contract would require $314 million and then another $230 million would be required for “complementary works”.

ASUR, which operates nearby Cancun and Cozumel airports, as well as 7 others in the south-east of Mexico, had said it considers the new airport unnecessary, but confirmed last week that it would still enter the bidding competition, which will be launched next month.

The Milenio reported that feasibility studies say that the construction can start in the first months of 2010 with a time to completion of 3 to 4 years, ready for operation in 2013 or 2014.

They also confirmed that the new Tulum airport will have a capacity for 700,000 passengers in its first year.

Although the number of jobs that will created to build the new Tulum airport is not confirmed, the government estimates that some 30,000 workers will be required, the paper said.

Politicians and business people locally hope that the airport will provide the "economic trigger" to make Tulum one of the most affluent parts of the Mexican Caribbean.

The heavy public investment has had an affect on the price of Tulum real estate and the number of overseas real estate developers in the area has boomed.

Great opportunities are available in land and property and with the massive growth of tourism in Tulum and the Riviera Maya set to continue, now is an excellent moment to invest in Tulum real estate.