Vila preps travel agents in Miami on Merida’s many attractions….
MIAMI — Mayor Mauricio Vila Dosal led a training meal that was offered to more than 30 travel agencies in Miami, with the aim of promoting the tourist attractions of Merida and linking local hotels and tour operators with these companies.
The promotional event was preceded by the official meeting with the mayor of Miami, Tomás Regalado, his wife, Ana Cristina Regalado, and commissioner Willy Gort. The Merida delegation was composed of representatives of business chambers of this city, officials of the mayor’s administration and the state secretariat of Tourism Promotion that participated in commercial, touristic and business missions.
Miami, which has a population in its metropolitan area of 5.4 million inhabitants, is a major urban region of the United States behind Los Angeles, New York and Chicago and a key city for the tourist industry of Merida due to its important connectivity through Aeromexico and American Airlines. The two airlines offer more than 1,300 seats of capacity weekly between the two cities.
During the event Mayor Vila Dosal pointed out how much Merida offers to national and international tourism, because it is a destination that has great cultural, natural and gastronomic wealth, as well as the advantage of being the safest city in Mexico.
Merida’s Mayor with Miami Authorities (Photo: Diario de Yucatan)
In his speech he mentioned that Merida is an ideal destination to relax or do business and has been designated for the second time as the American Capital of Culture, offering during this year a billboard of more than 12,000 cultural and artistic events free and with great national and international quality, that will culminate with the arrival of the replica of the Sistine Chapel and the concert of Fito Páez, among others.
He also mentioned some of the awards that Merida has been awarded last year, such as the Best Destination City for Congresses and Conventions 2016, by the Conventions Magazine of Latin America; Best Gourmet Destination in Mexico, by the Food and Travel Readers Awards; and One of the Top 10 Destinations to Visit in 2017, according to Lonely Planet magazine.
For its part, the British newspaper The Guardian included Merida in its list of the best destinations to visit in 2017, being the only Mexican city to appear on the list, and in recent days, CNN Money placed Merida in the first place in the best cities in the world to retire.
Vila Dosal pointed out that Merida has a very good position in terms of life and services quality, since in 2016, the Strategic Communication Cabinet carried out the study called The Most Livable Cities of Mexico, in which Merida ranked first in the Quality of Life Index.
Merida’s director of Tourism and Economic Promotion, Carolina Cárdenas Sosa, made a presentation in which she mentioned the main city attractions and its surroundings, hotel, catering and services, and cultural events free of charge offered by the Commune, such as the videomappings of the historic center, the Mayan ball game “Pok ta pok”, and the Santa Lucía serenade with its 52 years of tradition. She concluded by launching the promise, “In Merida we guarantee that each tourists will be a satisfied customer.”
During the training session for travel agencies and tourism service providers in Miami, it was stated that during the first 6 months of this year the Yucatecan capital received more than 687,000 tourists. This is an increase of 87,927 overnight visitors, compared to the same period last year, equivalent to a growth of 14.7%.
It was explained that the Merida International Airport registered from January to June of 2017 a total movement of passengers (arrivals and departures) of 1,028,992 passengers. This is a 16.3% increase over the 884,771 passengers recorded in that period of 2016.
In addition, Merida concentrates 65% of the hotel rooms in the state with 8,154 distributed in 220 hotels. At the moment, the construction or expansion of 29 hotels is under way, which will increase by 1,900 the number of rooms available. This will create a stock of more than 10 thousand rooms.
Likewise, it was stressed that this year, an increase of more than 250 thousand square meters of commercial areas is expected, which tells us about the economic and commercial growth of the city.
Source: yucatan.com.mx/merida
