Michelle Fridman, Secretary of Tourism of Jalisco, compared her transition from Yucatán to the west of the country and assured that for her it was like going from driving a Mini Cooper to an armored Suburban.
But the metaphor that illustrates her new challenge was not well received in the state that sheltered her for 6 years as head of the Tourism Promotion Secretariat (Sefotur), during the administration of Mauricio Vila Dosal from 2018 to 2024.
“We are talking about two very different destinations: in Yucatán, I left an 82% growth in the economic impact and we went from 2 to 7 magical towns. But Jalisco is a tourist giant with much greater challenges,” he explained to Expansión.
Therefore, for her, departing Yucatán to reach Jalisco was like going from a Mini Cooper to an armored Suburban.
During her tenure as Secretary of Tourism, Yucatán positioned itself as an emerging destination. Now, in Jalisco, he faces a different scenario.
“Jalisco is the third place in contribution to the national tourism GDP, above Quintana Roo, and has world-class destinations such as Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, in addition to 12 magical towns,” highlighted Michelle Fridman.
And the comparison between a mini Cooper and an armored suburban, more than contempt for this state of the Peninsula, alludes to recognizing that in Yucatán there are better levels of peace and security compared to Jalisco. In this state, there is drug violence as in much of the country.
The truth is that with more than 82,000 rooms, Jalisco occupies second place in the country in the supply of available rooms, representing 9.3% of the country’s total; while in Yucatán, the latter registers 16,483 available rooms.
Fridman recognizes that security is one of the main factors that influence the decisions of tourists, both national and international.
Knowing that organized crime is rampant in Jalisco, the former head of Sefotur in Yucatán plans the reactivation of the tourist police in destinations such as Puerto Vallarta and the creation of specific contact lines for tourists.
However, after the official compared her transition from Yucatán to Jalisco, she said it was like going from driving a Mini Cooper to an armored Suburban, the reactions on the networks were immediate, as her statements were not well regarded, even got into arguments with the former head of the Yucatan Ministry of Culture, Erica Millet.
TYT Newsroom
