In this context, Travel2latam spoke with José María Aguilar Villatoro, Head of Research at the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT).
What are the expectations and objectives with which people come to IBTM?
We know that the meetings and conventions segment is very important in Guatemala, since we have the appropriate facilities to accommodate this type of travel from different countries.
Our goal is to position Guatemala as a tourist destination for meetings and conventions. Now that there is a new government, there is democratic openness and there is confidence in the economy, we expect many events in Guatemala and to do so we are accompanied by nine businessmen with many scheduled appointments.
The Convention Bureau is also with you, right?
Yes, it is a great support for us since they are the specialists in this segment. As INGUAT we provide the facilities for everyone to participate by providing these spaces at no cost.
And which destinations in the country are preferred by meeting planners?
First of all, we have Guatemala City. We have a hotel complex and facilities that can host a number of meetings. Then we have Antigua Guatemala, which is a World Heritage Site. We could also mention the developments in Petén and Atitlán, where we can hold high-quality meetings because the services are first-class.
This event closes an annual tour that you have made very important. How do you assess this season?
Overall, taking into account all tourism segments, not just the meetings and conventions segment, we are very satisfied, since from January to October of this year we have seen a 16% increase in tourist arrivals compared to the same period in 2023.
We expect to close with more or less 29 million versus 26 million last year. And the current administration aims to close with 42 million visitors by the end of the year in 2027.
You're in the middle of launching a campaign that's going to have a high impact, right?
That's right. The campaign will be in Europe and the United States, but the communication strategy is based on a big data platform that we have acquired here in Barcelona, which is giving us all the insights of consumers who visit or want to visit Guatemala. Based on this, knowing these insights and these travel motivations, the communication and promotion campaigns are being designed.
And what surprising data have you received from the platform?
This platform basically gives us four modules for air connectivity; it allows us to know, for example, what the flight offer to Guatemala is and we can predict how many flights there will be in a year and the number of seats in the next six months. As of April 2025, we have scheduled 10,100 flights to Guatemala from the different airlines that fly directly, and more or less 15 million seats on offer. This may change due to demand.
In addition, it shows us how the prices of flights will be and allows us to demonstrate that Guatemala is one of the cheapest countries to travel by air compared to other competitors. Also, another very important aspect is consumer behavior, which is measured through the language of artificial intelligence.
This brings us closer to the reviews that visitors make when they are in Guatemala and allows us to know the degree of satisfaction that the visitor had in Guatemala in terms of security, hotel satisfaction, tourist products or activities; culture, adventure, nature and their level of spending as well. In other words, we follow the consumer's trail.
What has surprised us is that Guatemala has always been characterized as a country that offers cultural segments such as archaeological ruins, but this data shows us with greater positivity to visits to volcanoes, which is a nature and adventure tourism.