The Pacific Alliance 2nd Tourism Business Macro Roundtable started in Mazatlan (Mexico) on Tuesday.
The event, which saw the participation of 36 Peruvian enterprises, will come to an end tomorrow.
The Tourism Secretary of Sinaloa State, Francisco Cordova, affirmed this business meeting represents an opportunity for Peru, Colombia, Chile and Mexico to “put themselves on display” before the Chinese market as “the regional bloc with the most interesting tourism offers.”
Tourism and security
However, the Mexican official mentioned the need to solve issues related to security in some areas of the bloc-belonging countries with the aim of consolidating the tourism offer. Six years ago, Sinaloa suffered the consequences of an insecure environment due to drug-trafficking, he reminded.
"We had lost the tourism confidence and tourism was nearly gone since a State without peace cannot attract visitors," he told.
Nonetheless, the work carried out by Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez Valdez, the private sector’s engagement and the community itself, have enabled the city to reduce criminal incidents by 90%.
Currently, Mazatlan has become a 12,000 hotel-room port booked by tourists.
Business Meeting
The event is organized by Mexico's Tourism Board (CPTM), Peru's Export and Tourism Promotion Board (Promperu), Colombia (Proexport) and Turismo Chile.
16 Chinese outbound tourism companies also participate in this business meeting. Other 54 outbound-tourism and 120 incoming-tourism companies come from the Pacific Alliance.
It must be noted 216 million people reside in the Pacific Alliance-belonging nations.
In 2014, the bloc member countries welcomed a total of 37.9 million visitors, and in the same period, investments worth US$70.277 billion were carried out.
(END) CCA/JJN/RGR