The great Colombian cyclist Nairo Quintana has become a tourist promoter in San Luis Potosí in the last month. In the state capital, the Gran Fondo Nairo México 2022 (a 190 km route with various categories) will be held from October 21 to 23, the first organized outside its country of origin.
Without a doubt, this is the event of the year for people who have found a passion in cycling. The assistance of just over 3,500 national and international cyclists is expected.
Luisa Fernanda Ríos, Nairo’s manager, remembers that the athlete told her that after three editions it was time to leave, to look for a new venue and establish the right alliances.
In this process, the collaboration of the ProColombia office in Mexico is essential (of course, tourism and investment promotion agencies are useful, those that disappeared in the 4T).
“We are clear that many Mexicans participate since we started in 2018. For example, of 3,200 runners we had, about 500 were from Mexico. In addition, on their trip they took the opportunity to get to know Colombia. We know that we are also going to promote the reactivation of tourism after the great blow caused by the Covid-19 pandemic”, he mentions in an entertaining talk.
Before choosing San Luis Potosí, other options were evaluated that, out of respect, he does not usually mention.
In a sort of survey of what could happen in Mexico, Luisa Fernanda’s work team opted at the end of last year, without having a defined venue, to launch a pre-sale for 50 participants (which included a complete uniform and the right to have an emblematic shirt) and in less than 24 hours the goal was met.
At the same time, they intensified the tasks to choose the venue. On their way through San Luis Potosí, they met another passionate and disciplined for cycling and tourism: Claudia Lorena Peralta Antiga, who since the first day of October 2021 is the director of municipal Tourism.
After sharing with them that there is a cycling tradition in the state capital, which is home to high-quality bicycle factories, offering attractive landscapes and safety guarantees for the participants, they could not reject the proposal.
The capital of Potosí was the ideal place for their activity, of which they will give more details on January 27.
Claudia Lorena is clear that this is a great promotional opportunity that they will make the most of, especially since there are foreign cyclists who are learning about San Luis Potosí for the first time and are already beginning to search on Google.
“The organizers asked us for 8,000 rooms with a stay of 2.5 nights, but we believe that due to the tourist experiences that we are going to offer, we will add one more night. We estimate that the economic benefit will be around 60 million pesos. We are going to reinforce training with tourist service providers to be good hosts. One detail that we know is that cyclists prefer to have their bicycles in their rooms and sometimes in hotels this is not understood. We are going to explain it well”, details the official.
She also holds discussions with airlines to facilitate the arrival of participants and companions. There is even the idea of charter flights.
In the three days of the Gran Fondo Nairo México 2022, for example, the mezcal route and the potosino wine route will be offered, among other surprises that are currently saved.
By the way, It’s Tourism! shares a sample of the disruptive support that ProColombia provides to a tourist segment: “Passengers who travel to Colombia with Turkish Airlines will be able to take a bicycle for free. This is the result of our meeting with executives of the airline, focused on positioning Colombia as a cycling destination at another level”, its president, Flavia Santoro, wrote on Facebook, from Madrid, as part of her activities at FITUR.
alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx