Two Cancúns collide as masked gunmen storm Yucatán beach

The assault sent vacationers scurrying and raises fears that drug cartel rivalries could doom a lucrative tourist industry

Fifty years ago, Cancun was little more than a hurricane-battered fishing outpost, but it mushroomed into a tourist mecca thanks to massive government investment - and by the 1980s it was firmly established as the crown jewel of Mexico's tourist industry.

Millions of tourists from around the world descend annually on the destination and the Riviera Maya, which unfolds to the south.