Yucatan was honored with the Excelencias Gourmet Award at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) in Madrid, Spain, for the 365 Flavors of Yucatan campaign, one of the many actions promoted by Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal to promote the state and its gastronomy, in order to attract more visitors and improve the quality of life of families.
A jury made up of nine tourism, art and gastronomy personalities from different countries made their selection from a long list of candidates by means of secret and unappealable votes. The jury was led by José Carlos Santiago, president of the Excelencias Group, an international communications cluster whose goal is to raise the standards in the aforementioned areas and culture.
On behalf of the Governor, Michelle Fridman Hirsch, head of the Ministry of Tourism Development (Sefotur), received the award, noting that “being recognized by this select group of experts fills us with pride, it shows the success of the work carried out in our gastronomic tourism strategy; it has not only helped us recover and grow our indicators, but it has also put us in the eyes of the world.
The administration headed by Vila Dosal named 2022 as the Year of Yucatecan Gastronomy, which is experiencing its best moment, the result of several initiatives aimed at positioning it as the main engine of sustainable tourism in the region, the generation of formal jobs in different municipalities in the interior and the strengthening of the economy of thousands of households.
After identifying new products, this campaign was designed, which proposes culinary experiences divided into six regions: Yucatan Riviera; Merida, cultural capital, Cenotes and haciendas; Puuc Route and Mayan villages; Mayan World Capital, and Mayan Port. The “Flavors of Yucatán” Festival was also held, with panels, master conferences, tastings, 6 or 8-hand dinners, take overs, market tours, tastings and workshops, with traditional cooks and chefs from Mexico and abroad.
The state also hosted the tenth edition of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, a world-class award that attracted industry leaders and personalities, critics, journalists and investors to Mérida, the cultural and gastronomic capital of the southeast of the country, which is positioned, together with the state, as solid epicenters of this industry in Latin America, for a wide audience that includes the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy, among other parts of the world.
It’s worth remembering that the richness of Yucatecan gastronomy, considered one of the best and most complex in the entire Republic, lies in the crossbreeding of techniques and ingredients, between those used by the ancient Mayan population and those brought by the Spanish or Lebanese, as well as their implementation in the avant-garde of this discipline.
The Excelencias Group established these awards in 2005 and, since then, they have become a benchmark for those seeking to develop in the tourism, art, culture and gastronomy sectors; in 2021, they had a significant impact and notable repercussion in more than 20 countries, as they had more than 83 million views and 723 million users on their official websites.
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