The event was attended by the interim Minister of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio; the Mayor of San José, Ms. Ana Bentaberri; the Coordinator of the Tourism and Events Area of the Municipality of San José, Pedro Rodríguez; the President of the National Institute of Viticulture, Ricardo Cabrera; and the Marketing Manager of SODRE, Horacio Urrutia.
The interim Minister Remo Monzeglio, first of all, recognized the work of INAVI, “wine tourism is being integrated into all the departments from the very heart of each place that, with the attraction of good Uruguayan wines, attracts people, generates sources of income and makes these types of events happen.” He also highlighted “the diversity of proposals and very rich exchanges that this meeting has and from the Ministry of Tourism we will be supporting a natural department, which was a pioneer in hospitality when the creation of the Hostería del Parque was generated, which was a historic milestone in Uruguayan tourism.”
The Mayor of San José, Mrs. Ana Bentaberri, highlighted the support of the Ministry of Tourism towards her portfolio, “tourism development gives us the space we need to make serious proposals, thinking about local development, the development of our country and why not, regional development, promoting tourism”, emphasizing the joint work with other actors such as tour operators and institutions “that support from different areas to strengthen tourism and human development in our country”. Regarding the activity to be held in her department, the official said “that it will give the opportunity to those who have a real interest in tourism, as a work and development tool, to meet to talk about experiences, shared dreams and why not, to plan together”, she concluded.
The Coordinator of the Tourism and Events Area of the San José Municipality, Pedro Rodríguez, recalled that “this is an idea that was born within Mercociudades and is transferred to Iberotur, which has the support of the Ministry of Tourism and the San José Municipality, to provide a unique experience.” On the other hand, he highlighted five thematic axes that are taken from a database generated by a census of tourist service providers carried out by the Statistics Department of the San José Municipality, “here we find that we have a very high percentage of rurality within the department.” The thematic axes are: rural tourism; wine tourism; heritage, cultural and religious tourism; astrotourism; wetland tourism and birdwatching.
Sixteen countries will be present during these four days, trying to share their experiences and seek out experiences in this territory. In the morning there will be a congress activity and in the afternoon there will be activity in the territory, complementing different actions that will be carried out by service providers from the department.
Source: MINTUR Uruguay.