Tourism contributes 8.8% of jobs in Mexico

The country's tourism sector, with its four million 326 thousand direct jobs, 4.4 percent more than what was recorded in the third quarter of last year, has a valuable contribution of 8.8 percent to the total number of jobs in Mexico, he said this morning the Secretary of Tourism of the Federal Government, Miguel Torruco Marqués.

When inaugurating the program of activities of the 45th anniversary of the Higher School of Tourism of the National Polytechnic Institute, the head of Sectur estimated that only in the period January-September of this year will have created 181 thousand new jobs in the sector.

He pointed out that, throughout its existence, the Higher School of Tourism has trained 17,900 young people, many of whom have contributed their knowledge, talent and creativity to the strengthening of the national tourism industry.

He recalled that just a few months ago, in those same facilities, he had the distinction of inaugurating both the National Tourism Research Center, and the National Center for Gastronomic Research, both of great use to the tourist community.

“Research allows us to generate valuable information about the sector's problem; It explains the reality in which the tourist activity is immersed and represents a reliable tool for the decision-making of all those agents linked to the tourist activity. That is why the importance of having a space dedicated to this task, ”he said.

Therefore, Secretary Torruco Marqués said that today there is an urgent need to be more competitive every day, to renew ourselves as a destination and adjust to what the market needs, since only in this way will we make Mexico a special, different destination that position it above its competitors in the preferences of the more than 1,400 million tourists who travel the world.

“The balance between theoretical and practical aspects is fundamental for education. In this sense, it is necessary to promote the link between the governmental, social, academic and business sectors, so that they participate in a coordinated manner in projects aimed at better student training, ”he said.

Finally, he said that there are currently around 73,000 tourism students in the technical, middle and upper levels in 152 educational institutions in the country. "In you, young students, the tourist future of Mexico is deposited, because you will be responsible for the tourism industry to continue consolidating as a development lever," he said.