Quintana Roo was present at World Travel Expo Miami 2023

Within the framework of the international tourism and travel event World Travel Expo Miami 2023, held from June 13 to 15 at the Miami Airport Convention Center, Travel2latam had the opportunity to talk with Bernardo Cueto, Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

What is the main reason for your presence at this event?

For us, the presence of our brands and tourist destinations in North America is extremely important, since it represents 40% of our total market in season, and therefore, it is our main issuer of foreign tourists. The United States is a country that is connected with 41 cities to our international airports and with whom we must always maintain complete coordination and communication, especially with the main commercial partners of our state and our tourist destinations here in North America. That is why we have to be present to maintain the tourist influx of the North American market to our main destinations such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Tulum and Islas Mujeres, but also promote other new destinations in Quintana Roo,

What are those other destinations that you seek to promote?

We are referring to the south of the State, where Chetumal and the Bacalar Lagoon are located, a spectacular lagoon with the colors of the Caribbean Sea, and also a destination like Mahahual, which receives more than a million cruise passengers a year and has a hotel offer with great potential and growth, located on the Mayan coast near Belize. In addition, we are promoting various tourist segments. We are already known worldwide for sun and beach tourism, but in Quintana Roo we have the Mayan Culture with wonderful archaeological sites and we offer opportunities for the development of sports, medical, cultural, and nature tourism. That is the offer that we want to make known to the world, and in this particular case, to the North American market and specifically to continue strengthening ties here in Miami.

What is the connectivity situation of Quintana Roo?

We received more than 30 million passengers last year at the Cancun International Airport, which is a very important airport and the most connected in Mexico with international destinations. We also have two other international airports that are in operation, the island of Cozumel, a destination that has been offering tourist activities and experiences to the entire world for many years, has very good connectivity with more than 12 destinations in the United States. In addition, hand in hand with the Governor and the President of Mexico, we are advancing with the construction of the International Airport of our state located in Tulum, so we will be the only state in the Mexican Republic with four international airports,

How is the infrastructure capacity in the South Zone?

Precisely, the Tulum airport comes to strengthen connectivity to the south by the hand of the Chetumal International Airport, and a great project that the president of Mexico has promoted is the Mayan train, which will connect our state from end to end and will allow thousands of visitors and inhabitants to be able to move by rail. This will also generate greater investment and greater tourist influx from Cancun to southern destinations, so good years are coming for Quintana Roo. Our task is to tell this phenomenal news to the whole world so that our business partners start selling more destinations and, above all, tourists start saving their dates to continue visiting Quintana Roo.

What does Latin America represent from the point of view of percentage of visitors?

Latin America is positioned as the third most important region, fighting for place with Europe. In our state we have countries like Colombia, which is positioned as the third Hispanic country that emits foreign tourists, behind the United States and Canada, displacing the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Germany. In addition, we have opened new routes to Peru and Ecuador, with direct flights to Lima and Quito from Cancun. Of course, we are also strengthening our presence in Argentina, new flights from Brazil, which is also a very important market for our destinations, and we have a total of 20 Latin American cities directly connected to our main airports, which generates great strength and positioning in the Latin American market more than 5% of all our tourists.

Is there a medium-term project you are working on?

The State Governor is promoting a new tourism development model based on a sustainable tourism master plan. As I was telling you, we want to strengthen the diversified tourist offer and generate an offer that includes elements of sustainability, not only respect for the environment, but also social sustainability, so that the benefits of tourism reach our population and generate prosperity in thousands and thousands of inhabitants. These plans are strengthened by very ambitious infrastructure works such as the Maya train or the Tulum International Airport. We are aware that we must continue to improve the competitiveness of our tourist destinations through infrastructure,

Are you implementing some kind of policy regarding security?

Yes, in fact it is one of the main matters in which there is special attention from governments. The Governor of the State, Mara Lezama, has adhered to the International Tourist Protection Code in collaboration with the World Tourism Organization, and this has led us to generate very innovative attention policies, such as a tourist security table and close coordination with the main consulates and embassies of the countries that visit us. We also have innovative applications that focus on the attention of our tourists, through which national and foreign tourists can be connected 24 hours a day via call center and via application to the Ministry of Tourism that attends to any incident. We also have another technological tool called Guest Locator, that allows us to establish contact with our tourists and have a count of visitors at times of exposure to a natural phenomenon, such as rain or hurricanes. On the other hand, in terms of legal certainty, we are making great progress in preventing electronic and cyber fraud that afflicts the tourism industry, which is why we are taking action against illegal acts that directly affect tourists who pay for a trip digitally or online. 

Does Quintana Roo have a tourist police?

Yes, we do indeed have tourist police in Cancun and tourist service centers are being reinforced from the hotel zone of Cancun and this will be expanded in the main tourist destinations in the state, such as Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Tulum, where we will be strengthening the presence of the bilingual tourist police that attends to visitors in a timely and adequate manner.