In this context, Travel2latam spoke to Claudia Coronado, Head of the Operations and Marketing Department of INGUAT, the Guatemalan Tourism Institute.
What functions does it play in the development of tourism in Guatemala?
We focus on the operations part, on being able to manage both internal and external tourism for Guatemala. The primary phase we work on is the issue of caravans, which is taking Guatemalan businessmen to the destination countries that we want to position or strengthen. For this, we have an annual calendar for next year 2025, where we would like to be able to attack and strengthen 35 countries. Among them is, for example, the United States, which interests us greatly, as well as Mexico and South America.
What do the internal activities they carry out consist of?
When we talk about internal issues, it means that we work to strengthen community and rural tourism. We have seven tourist regions in which you can see the part of Antigua Guatemala, the living Mayan culture and also adventure and nature. We have all of that mapped out, so with internal campaigns we strengthen tourism so that they can visit certain places like Chichicastenango, where we have the Mayan culture, and it's incredible to see the colors, the traditions and everything that this entails.
What is the current situation of tourism in Guatemala, both nationally and internationally?
For us, it is important to strengthen ourselves right now. We have the Guatemalan Minister of Tourism, Harris Whitbeck , who is doing an exceptional job. In addition, we are making ourselves known internationally.
Guatemala is a country of traditions, culture, legends and stories, with all our Mayan culture alive and for us it is important that they have that perspective.
Next year we will have an important convention on gastronomy, and we are also positioning ourselves with an exhibition of national artists who are competing internationally in textile and ceramic productions.
What is the development of cruise tourism?
We have two ports, Puerto Quetzal, which is receiving 40 cruise ships this year, and Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla with 11 cruise ships. We are talking about approximately 85,000 people who visit Guatemala through this means. Just in October we had our opening of the season and a cruise ship came with 2,500 crew members who were able to visit nearby places, for example Antigua, or the volcanoes.
We also have a One Day Tour where you can go to Tikal at seven in the morning and return from the tour at six in the afternoon, and thus get to know and visit Guatemala in one day.
What are the main international markets? Which ones are you interested in working with?
We now have a platform that we have just acquired called Big Data, with first-hand information. We are working with 10 priority markets, including the United States. With Big Data we quickly know what interests people, how they come and on what dates, because as I mentioned, we have 12 tourist segments between the regions.
We have people who come from El Salvador, which represents 45% of tourism, and they are our first buyers because of our proximity. For us, it is important to strengthen our relations with them for Easter, or so that they come to Guatemala for their holidays. The same thing happens with the United States markets. We know that for Christmas we have many nationals who are in the United States and who will travel back to be able to be in their country.
Mexico is also relevant because of the proximity and the culture we share in the Mayan theme, the ruins and so on. The idea is to work together with them and offer that if they visit the ruins of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, they can go to Guatemala to visit Tikal and take routes with other countries, such as Belize.
From a connectivity perspective, are you working with new airlines?
We have various connections and the latest one that we are considering is being able to work with Iberia, to have that connection with the European market, which is very important. In addition, we continue to work and strengthen relations with the airlines that support us with tickets so that our businesspeople can travel to represent the country in other destinations.
Which countries in Latin America do you visit the most?
We are making many alliances with Chile. A Chilean delegation of 30 businessmen came to our country a month ago with a lot of interest in investing. The Guatemala of 20 or 30 years ago has already changed, it is a modern Guatemala, and we have a very interesting infrastructure for the MICE sector, we have five-star hotels and all-inclusive hotels, which allows tourism to arrive and settle very easily.