ACAPULCO — The 36th Tianguis Touristico, Mexico’s annual travel industry conference for buyers and suppliers, attracted representatives from 22 global markets, including several new to Tianguis, such as China, Chile, Czech Republic and Poland.
Mexico is targeting 26 million visitors this year, up from the 22.4 million in 2010, according to Secretary of Tourism Gloria Guevara.
Visitor figures for January point to a 1.7% increase over January 2010 and solid advance bookings heading into the Easter period and beyond, according to Guevara.
Among the highlights of the three-day conference:
• AMResorts will relaunch its Sunscape Resorts & Spas brand with the Nov. 1 opening of the 285-room Sunscape Dorado Pacifico Ixtapa, the firm's first resort in Ixtapa.
In addition, AMResorts will debut its adults-only Secrets Huatulco Resort & Spa on Mexico’s Pacific coast this summer and its Now Amber Resort and Secrets Vallarta Bay Puerto Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta in 2012.
Mexico is home to two-thirds of AMResorts' portfolio.
In the Caribbean, AMResorts will debut two new Punta Cana properties in May 2011: Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana and Now Larimar Punta Cana.
• Sol Melia will open two Paradisus resorts in Playa del Carmen in November, bringing to eight the number of its properties in Mexico.
• Mazatlan tourism officials urged travel agents, tour operators, airlines and wholesale partners to “have confidence in us” in the face of a cruise line pullout earlier this year.
Officials are working with the government to develop a strategic master plan for tourism growth and said talks with cruise lines are ongoing in an effort to gain the return of the lines for the next cruise season.
Carlos Berdegue, vice president of the Mazatlan Hotel Association, pointed to the launch of American’s daily service from Dallas on June 9, the planned development of a new resort area called Teacapan 60 miles south of the Pacific coast city and a new TV campaign featuring testimonials from U.S. visitors to reinforce the message that “there is an appetite for Mazatlan. We need tourism to revitalize our economy.”
• Guevara outlined details of the recently launched “I Am A Tourist” program designed to increase domestic tourism, and cited the increase in seat capacity and frequency by U.S. carriers serving Mexico.
She said that Air France’s launch of nonstop service three times a week between Paris and Cancun Oct. 21 “reinforces the strength of Mexico for the European market. Airlines follow demand.”
• Mexico plans to pursue medical tourism to drive niche market development and will host an Adventure Travel Summit next fall to boost interest in that market segment.
Officials also are pushing hard to expand the destination wedding market beyond the Riviera Maya region, so far the most popular in Mexico for wedding ceremonies.