Victoria Lubas
FEATURES EDITOR

Cancun is giving its visitors the gift of longer days and more sunlight by changing its time zones.

On February 1^st at 2:00 a.m., Cancun will spring its clocks ahead one hour and change from Central Standard Time (CST) to Eastern Standard Time (EST). This means that the sun will now rise at 7:40 a.m. instead of 6:40, and set at 6:30 p.m. instead of 5:30.

Beaches in Cancun will now have an extra hour of sunlight.
Photo Credit: 0hs.eu

The new change in time zone will allow vacationers to enjoy as much Mexican sunlight as possible. Yahoo! News said “the change was approved by the Mexican government, after two years of lobbying from several hotel owners…and the state government.”

Lourdes Perez, an account executive for Newlink Communications, said that the time change will “strengthen the destination’s competitiveness with other popular tourism destination’s that run on EST.”

The change to Eastern Standard Time will also make airports in the same time zone, such as New York City and Toronto, run more smoothly.

In addition to the tourist advantages, the time change also allows Cancun to “go green,” according to the Cancun Convention and Visitor Bureau who said that the “added sunlight should also generate reductions in electricity use for hotels and restaurants in the area.”

While the change to EST may be difficult and may take some getting used to, the results seem to be beneficial for both tourists and locals. Now the only thing left to do is grab a swimsuit and sunscreen to enjoy an extra hour on Cancun’s beautiful beaches.