Video created by State of Yucatan to promote tourism development around Chichen Itza

Will Chichen Itza become like Cancun — hotels, restaurants, attractions — without the beach?

That’s what developer Juan José Cardeña, owner of 220 hectares (more than 500 acres) near Chichen Itza, revealed yesterday in an article that appeared in the Diario de Yucatan.

According to Cardeña’s representative, Jorge Ongay Lara, investors from Spain and Switzerland have been in discussions to commit more than a billion pesos ($80 million U.S.) to begin construction on a project Cardeña calls, “Paraíso Maya 2012″ (“Maya Paradise 2012″).

The project proposes to subdivide the property near Chichen into 33 large lots in 10 low-density hotels, extensions of chains that currently operate resorts and hotels on the Maya Riviera and Campeche. There are also plans for extensive shopping, a bandshell, and a giant saltwater “dolphinarium.”

Talk, of course, is cheap, and until some developer sends out the bulldozers, the extensive plans are only that — plans. As the video at the top of this post demonstrates, the state of Yucatan has plans for extensive development around Chichen Itza and so far is the only private or public developer to actually start building something — the Palacio de la Civilizacion Maya (Palace of the Maya Civilization), a museum dedicated to the ancient, present, and future indigenous culture of Yucatan.

What is not known is if Cardeña’s Paraiso Maya project has anything to do with the plans by the state of Yucatan. Or is Cardeña just another developer hoping to piggyback on those plans and the perceived interest in Chichen Itza, such as this landowner who is still looking for investors to his Chichen Itza project.