Rosarito Beach has a largely tourist-based economy. As a result its highrises are predominantly hotels and resorts. Rosarito offers more than 900 hotel rooms from 25 resorts such as Las Rocas Resort, Grand Baja and Festival Plaza Hotel; golf courses and spas. The Popotla Boulevard area in south Rosarito is developing a reputation for original art and furniture manufacturing. Within a few years, scarcely a piece of oceanfront property large enough for a condominium resort was left unsold to developers. Even Donald Trump associated his name with a condo-hotel project north of Rosarito Beach in Playas de Tijuana; while the developers insist the project will still be built, they announced a loss of financing in November 2008 due to the worldwide financial crisis. In August 2008 the Rosarito Beach Hotel opened a new condo-hotel tower.
The well-known lobster village, Puerto Nuevo arose in the 1970s and 80s, just fifteen minutes south of central Rosarito, originally as a fishermen's neighborhood who would offer the daily catch in their living room, and now is a tourist/culinary destination. Lobster, rice, and beans, washed down with Margaritas is the "comida del dia." Lobster "Puerto Nuevo Style" can be advertised anywhere in Baja, where the recipe is lobster, doused with butter and grilled, although if a customer insists it will be prepared in the traditional method
