Today, the Executive Director of Strategy and Public Diplomacy of the Foreign Ministry, Alfonso Zegbe Camarena, and the Undersecretary of Quality and Regulation of the Tourism Ministry, Humberto Hernández-Haddad, in representation of Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco, respectively, held a meeting of the Permanent Tourism Observatory with the ambassadors of Mexico in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Iran, and with the Representative Office in Palestine.

These meetings bring together the federal, state, city and municipal governments with the aim of designing a national tourism reactivation strategy, which is understood to have economic, social and welfare aspects.  Oaxaca Tourism Secretary Juan Carlos Rivera Castellanos also attended the meeting, in his role as president of the Association of Tourism Secretaries.

Various Tourism Ministry officials who contributed to designing the proposal to reactivate tourism in Mexico shared its principal initiatives and projects for the relaunch. These include issues such as environmental conservation, inclusive and economically fair tourism, and the digitalization of tourism promotion, to make Mexico a model tourist destination.

They highlighted the first Digital Tourism Fair that was held last September and was the first to be held virtually. A second fair is scheduled for March 23-24; Sinaloa will be the host state. Mexico's representations abroad have worked to identify and invite  leading local tourism providers and tour operators to participate in the fair.  They also discussed the plan to internationalize Mexico's "Magic Towns" and their promotional events, including the third Pueblos Mágicos fair.

The Directors General of the Matías Romero and Tourism Competitiveness Institutes discussed the courses on tourism promotion available to the Mexican Foreign Service in 2021. The Director General of the Diplomatic Academy of Mexico, Alejandro Alday, said that promoting tourism to Mexico has become an aspect of the basic training given to Mexico's diplomats and consular officials in its representations abroad.

The ambassadors discussed the comparative advantages of the countries they are serving in, agreeing that tourism is one of the sectors that will contribute to the economic recovery of these nations, given their locations in places that were home to the most emblematic ancient civilizations, a characteristic they share with Mexico. Each discussed the actions being taken to reactivate tourism locally. Nations such as Egypt and Morocco have archaeological and cultural wealth, while countries such as Algeria and Palestine have natural attractions and potential destinations for religious tourism.  The Embassy of Mexico in Iran presented its work plan to increase tourism that includes the possibility of opening honorary consulates in countries with concurrent accreditation.

The participants discussed strategies to promote tourism: by translating promotional materials and the VisitMexico site into the official languages of those countries; increasing air connectivity; promoting the nation's cultural wealth; taking into account the diasporas of these countries to encourage multi-destination travel in the American hemisphere, and making it easier for international tourists to enter Mexico.

They also discussed the preparations for the 24th meeting of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization, which will take place in October 2021 in Marrakech, the first global event of the United Nations since the beginning of the pandemic. Top themes will be education and youth, rural development and digital innovation.

Lastly, the Director General of International Affairs and Cooperation of the Tourism Ministry, Emmanuel Rey, and the Tourism and Public Diplomacy Coordinator of the Foreign Ministry, Ángel E. Santamaría Navarro, expressed their appreciation for the commitment and work of the diplomatic representations in following through on the activities of tourism promotion developed by the two ministries.

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