Lidia Sectur with lack of content for promotion

The Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco, assured federal deputies that the international promotion of Mexican attractions continues with his “successful” strategy Operation Knocks on Doors, supported by embassies and consulates in strategic markets, although he acknowledged that after almost three years administration does not have audiovisual content to do it efficiently.

When they told me: you are going to be the heir to the database of the (defunct) Council for the Promotion of Tourism in Mexico (CPTM), I was surprised that all the videos were copyrighted, could not be used and had to start from scratch. . There are things that I have not commented on because I like challenges. I had to be the secretary of tourism at the most critical moment in history,” said the official.

Without mentioning them directly, this situation did not improve with the time that the VisitMéxico platform was in the hands of the Brainivity company and that it was recently “taken back” and is managed by the federal agency. Said company, upon its withdrawal, took the content it had created.

Now, more detailed information has begun to be posted on the platform, for example, about the Magical Towns. Even the secretary, who was calm during the three hours of legislative appearance, invited legislators to link to VisitMéxico to see details of the 132 Magical Towns.

He also reiterated his achievement of having created the General Directorate of Promotion and International Affairs (in charge of a former CPTM), which facilitated the participation of Mexico in outstanding tourism fairs worldwide.

“We did not make a clean slate in terms of promotion,” said Miguel Torruco, who invited the deputies to eat at his house at some point as part of his willingness to have a plural and open dialogue with them. In addition, he promised to share his recent book on the hotel sector, which he knows in detail.

security, train, airline

A recurring theme at the meeting was about the insecurity that occurs in some parts of the country. In response, he said that there is a close collaboration with the National Guard, which already has a specialized group to serve tourists. Strategy similar to the one he developed in Mexico City where he was in charge of tourism.

Regarding the Mayan Train, before the different points of view of the deputies of the Tourism Commission, he expressed his optimism that construction will be finished in December 2023, as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has promised.

“The Mayan Train is not the chronicle of a failure. That’s part of the opposition’s obligation to say those kinds of comments, which we respect. It was the same chronicle of the Reforma corridor and the remodeling of the center of CDMX and the second floor… It will be a chronicle of success. We will have passenger railways”, he referred.

Regarding the new airline that the President of Mexico proposes to create, he considered that it is totally necessary and that it must have a regional vocation to serve destinations that are not of interest to commercial airlines, although he did not elaborate on the preparation of demand studies that suggest the need to have active routes.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx