WTM London 2022: Mexico Moving on the Right Track

Within the framework of the World Travel Market London 2022 (WTM), Caribbean News Digital sar down in an exclusive interview with Miguel Torruco Marqués, Mexico's Secretary of Tourism

By Veronica de Santiago

What proposals does Mexico have for the UK market? 

First of all, we are very happy that we are already seeing each other again without the mouth covering, that we have practically overcome that tragedy at a global level. As you know, Mexico was one of the first countries to recover, what we did was to order the President not to receive international flights, and we immediately carried out the bio-sanitary protocols, which were very professional in coordination with the Ministry of Health and the private sector, which played a very important role. 

We also did not cancel our tourist fair: we innovated with the digital Tianguis in which we had the participation of more than 60 nations; there was no indebtedness as was always the custom in the past during crises; there was the resource -because of the austerity of the government-, to set aside and acquire vaccines, when in Mexico the elderly already had the second vaccine, many developed countries, even in Europe, did not even have the first one. We also kept in touch with the tour operators at all times, we sent them subliminal messages with very creative images of "Take care of yourself, but we are prepared to receive you with the best protocols". 

And all of that resulted in 2020 we were in third place behind France and Italy and then, in 2021 we overtook Italy, we were only below France and in ninth place in foreign exchange earnings from the 17th place we occupied at the end of the previous administration. 

Now that 10 months have passed, I can assure you that this year we are going to close with 42.3 million international tourists and the most interesting thing is that we are going to attract 26.2 billion dollars, which will be 6.3% more than in 2019. It means that we are on the right track, especially now that the government strategy, the president has practically anticipated the facts of the pandemic, because since 2019, to avoid the loss of positioning, we started to create high impact products such as the Mayan Train, an example of this. 

The Mayan Train is going to have approximately 1 525 km, 20 stations, it is going to pass through 117 very high impact attractions, it is going to run at 160 km, it does not pollute, it is going to have a regional food canteen, it is going to have 14 stops which is to support the local population so that they can go to work faster. Also, since it is a cargo train, it will be self-financing, so that it will have additional resources and it will be a great tourist attraction that will benefit Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco and Chiapas. 

And so new attractions are also being built, for example, in Mazatlan, in March of next year, we will inaugurate the largest aquarium in Latin America with new tourist attractions, new highways that were left unfinished in past administrations, airports that were also left unfinished like the one in the Copper Canyon, which is four times bigger than the Colorado Canyon in Arizona, it was started in 2004, we are finally going to finish it and this is going to give a lot of economic development to that region. 

And so little by little throughout the country we continue with new attractions like the ones we did in 2016 with the Day of the Dead Carnival. Now we are already with the Desert Race, which was a success there in Sonora. We are now going to Southern California, to the race from sea to sea, where you leave from La Paz -which is the capital of Southern California-, and arrive at Todos Santos, a magical town, and there will also be a night of camping where more than 12 nations are expected. 

We still have other events of international stature that did not exist but that we are going to repeat every year, such as the Day of the Dead Carnival: innovate or die. That is what we are doing, innovating and, above all, responding to the profile of a new consumer, more informed and demanding, but who above all is not only looking to be satisfied, to be shut up in a hotel and see sun and beach, but to have more contact with nature, with the local population, with culture, with gastronomy, and for this we have been preparing ourselves to continue in this sense at the forefront. 

Gastronomy, well, in a few days the Latin America's 50 Best Restaurant begins in Yucatan, which is a great gastronomic event at world level, I congratulate you for it. Mexico is one of the most connected countries with Europe by air, but are you negotiating new routes? 

That is right, and it was very gratifying to see the increase in flights to Monterrey from Madrid, and soon to La Paz as well. I believe that taking into consideration the charters, plus the Spanish airlines such as Iberia, Aeromexico, we are the two countries with the greatest connectivity that I see in the world because practically every day there are up to 2, 3 flights, so we are here just around the corner from home. 

Yesterday I was interviewing Luis Villaseñor in Nayarit and he was telling me that they have already recovered the figures for 2019. Mexico has really continued to grow during the pandemic as he told me with the figures, but are they betting on more?      

Of course, what we want is for international tourism to have a greater purchasing power to increase the overnight stay and the revenue and the benefit to the population. And we will continue to insist on the domestic market, which has always been the backbone of any economic activity developed in tourism. In 2019, to give you an idea, 258 million travelers moved throughout the country, although repetitive, but still a considerable figure, of which 110 million people made use of hotel facilities and a spillover of 142 billion dollars representing 79 % of the national tourist movement. Also, 22 thousand new hotel rooms are being built every year, which places us today with almost 855 thousand rooms in the 7th power in hotel infrastructure. 

The next big event is FITUR in Europe?

We will be there, and I would also like to point out that the Secretary, the Minister of Tourism, is a very good friend and last time we were there as an act of solidarity to attend the opening ceremony there, and there has always been reciprocity and we will be present at FITUR as we have always done. 

With a large participation on the part of the states?  

Of course, on this occasion the stand continues to grow, generally, now we're going to have more than a thousand meters because previously the Caribbean was set up in a different way. Just now the Secretary of Tourism and the President of the Trust have just left, and we have reached the agreement we had already discussed with the new governor of the state of Quintana Roo, so we will be united for the next fairs, because it is one country, one brand, and there is strength in unity.