In this context, Travel2latam spoke with María del Sol Velásquez García, Director of Tourism and Promotion of Promperú.
What type of tourism is Promperú looking for?
We are aiming to exceed 4 million tourists, but we are not looking for masses. We want quality, educated tourists who are in line with what we have as a destination. Peru is not massive, it has a lot of niches, nature, adventure, culture, archaeology, gastronomy, and what we have to offer is precisely for a conscious, knowledgeable tourist who wants to immerse themselves in a different experience.
What does Peru Travel Mart mean to you as a means of dissemination?
Peru Travel Mart is a well-established fair, very important at a national level, and we want to position it at a Latin American level and make it an important marketing platform. We want it to be relevant to come, to get to know the destination, and for the buyer to meet the seller, to introduce the new products and experiences, to close deals and to sell the destination. That is what we need, to start selling the destination much more but in a careful way, without it becoming massive.
What are the featured products? And which ones are you promoting for further development?
We are working in the segments of culture, nature, adventure, gastronomy and community tourism, but we are putting a lot of emphasis on experiences. We care about what tourists feel from the moment they arrive and are with the community, see how they live and get to know the tourist attraction. It is about getting to know a country, its traditions and cultures; we are selling experience.
On the other hand, one of the objectives of this management is to achieve the diversification of the destination. Although we know that Cusco and Machu Picchu are our great anchor, Peru has much more to offer and that is where diversification comes in.
Lima is an important point because although it is the historic and gastronomic center, it is also an interesting hub for cultural activities and concerts, and it has a link with the Nazca Lines, so we can offer a complete and very good product.
Apart from that, we are promoting the northern beaches, the Moche route and the entire Peruvian Amazon. We have an incredible diversity and right now we are differentiating ourselves from the competition by showing what they don't have: nature and adventure.
What are you doing in terms of infrastructure and connectivity to visit the Amazon?
We are working on connectivity. It is not an easy factor, because there is a lack of fleets at an international level for all airlines, so new routes cannot be opened and airlines are opting for those that are already consolidated or more commercial.
However, through the Vice Ministry of Tourism we are working to open new routes by 2027 by generating demand. Because that is the job, if we create demand, it does not work.
The strong point is precisely to work on connectivity at an interregional level throughout Peru, and obviously the Amazon is a very important area for us. In terms of infrastructure, the government has been developing various development projects to make the Amazon better connected and easier to reach.
Do you have any long-term projects?
The product that is being worked on at the moment is the Choquequirao Archaeological Park, which is an extension of Machu Picchu, and it is an incredible fortress. But getting there at the moment is not so easy, as it takes a trek of more or less a week.
We are trying to make it possible to reach Machu Picchu through a cable car that the Peruvian State is developing, to make the tour, and thus have the option of going to Choquequirao in a much simpler way.