Miguel Torruco inaugurated the Latin American Tourism Congress

The Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico, Miguel Torruco Marqués, opened the Latin American Tourism Congress this virtual afternoon at noon, where the challenges, challenges and opportunities in the context of the 2020-2022 tourism recovery will be discussed for three days.

With the presence of the vice president of the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco Servytur), Roberto Zapata; the Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo, Marisol Venegas; and the President of the Organizing Committee of this congress, Alex Aizpuru, the head of Sectur, urged attendees to make innovation the flag of the tourism sector, and promote it as a key strategy for the competitiveness, development, and growth of this activity.

He thanked the invitation to inaugurate the event, for offering him the opportunity to share the actions that the Government of Mexico is carrying out to face the damage caused by the current health crisis and start a process of reactivation and economic recovery of the tourism industry.

He explained that the good progress of the national tourism industry in 2019 and the beginning of this year was drastically interrupted last March 11, when the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 pandemic globally.

But today, after more than four months of confinement, the country is beginning a phase of gradual reopening of its tourist destinations, with strict hygiene measures and the application of sanitary protocols homologated with those established worldwide, in order to protect service providers and tourists.

He argued that, in this sense, the federal Tourism Secretariat, in close permanent collaboration with the health authorities, designed a new "Clean Point Quality Seal v2020. Good Practices for Hygienic-Sanitary Quality in the Tourism Sector ”, aimed at practically the entire tourist value chain, which is endorsed by both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

"With this, we generate as a destination greater confidence in travelers to fully enjoy the products and tourist attractions that Mexico has," he assured.

Likewise, he announced that the Inter-American Tourism Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) will meet on August 13, which will discuss the protocols to follow among the various ministers of Tourism in the region.

Secretary Torruco Marqués argued that, initially, national tourists will choose to make short trips in a range of three to five hours by road, so some of the strategies designed are focused on strengthening internal tourism, which last year it meant 258 million travelers, of which 102 million stayed in a hotel, representing a consumption of 142 billion dollars, equivalent to 82 percent of total tourist consumption.

He added that, in view of this perspective, among the actions initiated is the realization of the Digital Tourist Tianguis, to be held next September, as a preamble to the 45th edition of the face-to-face Tourist Tianguis, the most important tourism fair in Mexico, which will take place in Mérida , Yucatan, in March 2021.

Work is also underway on the second edition of the Tianguis de Pueblos Mágicos, which will take place in November of this year in the city of San Luis Potosí; while with the valuable work of the Angeles Green Tourist Services Corporation, Sectur encourages road tourism to tourist destinations close to major cities that issue travelers.

He added that, in addition to the above, the Ministry of Tourism has focused on the implementation of programs and projects that have sustainability as a central axis, through innovative models of sustainable tourism; as well as to strengthen air connectivity, with the construction, expansion or remodeling of airports in the State of Mexico (“Felipe Ángeles”, in Santa Lucía); the Huasteca Potosina, in San Luis Potosí; Chetumal, capital of Quintana Roo; and Copper Canyon, in Creel, Chihuahua.