Resorts on Mexico's Caribbean coast want to give you a free vacation every year for 20 years

Hotels along Mexico's Caribbean coast are teaming up to give one lucky person a free vacation every year in a luxury all-inclusive resort for 20 years.

The furthest most of us are getting to a vacation right now is a trip to the Italian section of our local supermarket but resort destinations in Mexico are hoping to take us, well, two of us, a little farther afield. Hotel operators in destinations including Cancún, Isla Mujeres, Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Isla Cozumel are hosting a competition in which one lucky person will win an all-inclusive vacation for two people to a four- or five-star hotel in these resorts each year for the next 20 years. That's a Caribbean coast beach holiday sorted until 2041. The prizes are presented as gift certificates which can be redeemed each year for a five-night vacation.

The competition, organized by the Atelier hotel group, is called #Come2MexicanCaribbean in English or #VenAlCaribeMexicanoX2 in Spanish. To apply, you'll need to be social media savvy and over the age of 18. Applicants must upload a Mexican Caribbean vacation-inspired photo to Instagram or video to TikTok using the hashtag #Come2MexicanCaribbean, and tag @Come2MexicanCaribbean.

The idea is to promote Mexico as a tourist destination at a time when the industry is struggling. Tourism accounts for 8.5% of the country's GDP and about 24 million foreign tourists visited Mexico last year. But despite reopening its borders to tourists in July hotels and hospitality businesses are finding it difficult to bounce back after months of closures. Rates of COVID-19 infections have yet to begin to slow down as the government struggles to bring the pandemic under control. It's hoped that a widespread social media campaign will remind travelers what awaits them when the coast is clear.

The competition is open to residents from the US, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. It runs until November 9 and winners will be announced on November 27. To apply and access the full terms and conditions, see here.

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