The Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico, Miguel Torruco Marqués, and the Mexican Ambassador to Germany, Francisco José Quiroga Fernández, lead the delegation that represents our country at the ITB Berlin 2023 tourism fair, whose purpose is to promote the arrival of German and European tourists to our country and detonate the economy in the different destinations, as it is a market that reports a high level of spending.
Accompanied by the Head of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican Embassy in Germany, Alejandro Rivera Becerra, Secretaries of Tourism, and in the presence of Volker Adams, Head of Government Affairs of the Federal Association of the Travel Industry of Germany; as well as representatives of the business sector, the head of the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) participated in the cutting of the ribbon of the Mexican Pavilion at ITB Berlin 2023.
The Mexican delegation that participates in this important international tourism fair is made up of more than 80 representatives of the sector, who will present, for three days, the offer of tourist destinations and products to the most relevant players in this industry in Germany, to encourage their tourists visit Mexico.
The Secretary of Tourism highlighted the importance of participating in ITB Berlin 2023, which resumes its face-to-face edition after the pandemic, as a great opportunity to strengthen the flow of tourists from this important European issuing market; Likewise, he reiterated that in this fair, the Mexican Caribbean participates once again integrated into the Mexican pavilion, as agreed with the governor of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama Espinosa, and thus present all the great offer of Mexico, in unity.
He indicated that in 2022, 247,595 German tourists arrived in Mexico by air, which positioned this country in 10th place in the ranking of those who visit Mexico the most. In addition, the tourist expenditure of the citizens of Germany in our country was 273 million 759 thousand dollars.
As part of the work tour of Berlin, Torruco Marqués held a working meeting with Jens Jokisch, head of the German Government's Crisis Response Center, the agency in charge of issuing travel alerts, with whom he discussed security issues in Mexico .
He specified the importance of the alerts issued by the German government being duly focused, as has already been done with the authorities of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, noting that the incidents that occur in some states are far from the areas where the tourist activity takes place.
Within the framework of ITB Berlin 2023, the Secretary of Tourism held important working meetings with executives of the main German airlines that travel to our country, and with whom he strengthened ties of collaboration to strengthen air connectivity between the two nations, being a cornerstone of tourist activity.
He spoke with Tim Fischbach, senior director Head of Touristic Sales Home Markets Lufthansa Group; Savio Monsorate, senior manager Business Development Lufthansa City Center; and Martina Groenegres, managing director Lufthansa City Center, to evaluate opportunities in terms of connectivity with Mexico, with the purpose of increasing routes and frequencies to our country.
The head of Sectur also held a meeting with Oliver Feess, manager of Air Route Planning, and with Christian Worfl, manager of Network Development of the German airline Condor, with whom he agreed on actions that facilitate the promotion of new flights. The managers also showed interest in the new Tulum airport, as an alternative to expand its route network.
The delegation from Mexico headed by Torruco Marqués participated in an important working meeting with Stefan Tidow, Secretary of State of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection (BMUV), with whom he shared the achievements and opportunities in terms of of sustainable development, and strengthened cooperation ties to coordinate actions that promote the projects that are undertaken in both countries.
He emphasized programs that are carried out in Mexico such as Kuxatur, which through a fund of more than 7 million dollars contributed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is implemented in Maya Ka'an, Quintana Roo; Sierra la Laguna, Baja California Sur; and in Huatulco, Oaxaca; and also presented the results of the Adaptur program that has an impact on six of the most important destinations in Mexico, making tourism a new way of focusing on caring for the environment and, in turn, making it an engine of economic development, for the benefit of the communities.
During the work tour of Berlin, Germany, the Secretary of Tourism is accompanied by Humberto Hernández Haddad, Undersecretary of Tourism; Emmanuel Romain Ernest Rey, General Director of Promotion and International Affairs; Bernardo Cueto Riestra, Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo; Roberto Monroy García, Secretary of Tourism of Michoacán; Rodrigo Esponda Cascajares, director of the Los Cabos Tourism Trust; among others.