More about the State of Veracruz


The state of Veracruz has 1.405 million hectáreas of forest; 1.196 million of those, or 85% correspond to the Veracruzanian jungle and 0.209 million to woods (15%).
40% of the state's land is used for livestock.
With 210 counties, it busts several major cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants: Boca del Rio, Cordoba, Martinez de la Torre, Orizaba, Xalapa, Veracruz, Coatzacoalcos, Tuxpan, Poza Rica, Minatitlán.

Some near-by cities concentrate
high industrial activity:

      Coatzacoalcos-Minatitlán, that
      specializes in oil, petrochemical and
      fertilizer exports; 
      Córdoba-Orizaba, with its added-value
      industry corridor; 
      Veracruz-Boca del Río, with metal, port,
      maritime and turism activities; 
      Tuxpan-Poza Rica, with oil, food
      industry and maritime activities; and last

      Xalapa with an strong development
      toward the Services industry. 

      This near-by cities hold more than 45%
      of the state's population. 38% of the
      most important industrial facilities are
      concentrated in less than 5% of the
      state's counties as follows: 

      North of the state, citrics; 
      On the middle, sugar and coffee as well
      as pasteurizing, beer, textile, paper,
      metal and building material industries;
      and
      South, petrochemicals and fertilizers
      industries
 
 





Ecology

      Veracruz state is 72,815 km2; and has a
      shoreline of some 600+ kilometers.
      There are some 40 rivers crossing the
      state grounds for a total of 1,118 km.
      that release 33% of the national river
      streams. Moreover, it has 116,000 ha. of
      inland waters and different water
      bodies. 
      Bio-diversity in Veracruz is
      characterized by a varied flora and
      fauna. The former comprises some
      7,482 types of plants out of 8,000 types
      registered worldwide. The later, the
      fauna, although abundant, has shown
      significant reductions, only by the
      Tuxtlas region there where 445
      registered species in 1984, while in
      1990 there could only be found some
      168.
 
Transport and communications

Veracruz state is third at a national level with a road and highway network of 15,856 kilometers as follows: 

  • asphalted roads 4,813 km 
  • highways 503 km. 
  • paved roads 9, 346 km. 
  • secondary rural roads 1,194 km. 
This network allows for communication among its10 mid-sized cities which in turn favors commercial exchange and economical activity. There are still more road and highway projects in the make to increase coverage. 

There are 4 cabotage and 3 international ports:
Coatzacoalcos, Tuxpan and Veracruz; these last ports are fitted with modern cargo handling ystems which allow maritime access to North, Central and South America as wells as to the  European countries. 

There are four airports spread through the state and located at: 

  • “Heriberto Jara” in Veracruz 
  • “El Tajín”, between Poza Rica/Tuxpan; 
  • “Canticas”, between Minatitlán/Coatza 
  • “El Lencero”, close to Xalapa. 
First three airports have capacity for International flights. 

There are 1,299 km. of railways that link the central and southeast regions of the state. The railway network is obsolete, however, its modernization is a must.

Tourism

Veracruz state offers a variety of sites for visitors:

  • 10 archeological zones, 
  •  7 museums, 
  •  9 colonial cities, 
  • 24 beaches with road access, 
  •   3 waterfalls and 
  •   2 lagoons. 
There are more sites awaiting to be open to the public. 
In 1996, some 6.5 million visitors; 93% were nationals and only 7% from abroad. 
To cope with visitors there are almost a thousand hotels out of which there are about 20 5-star hotels 
To satisfy demand, hotel industry in Veracruz has 969 buildings: 16 5-star, 40 4-star, 128 3-star, 133 2-star and 159 1-star hotels; there are some other 493 facilities as well, among motels, shelters, and boarding houses; however, there is still lacking a well-defined policy to promote tourism to increase the demand for ecological, cultural, sporting and adventure from co-nationals and foreigners alike; there is still a lack of development of seldom visited areas like Costa Esmeralda, Filobobos, etc, as well as for new touristic sites.

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