ITB Berlin News 2019 - Review Edition

AMERICAS & CARIBBEAN
REGION
43
Enrique Monroy
Abunader
Head of tourism promotion,
Yucatan Tourism Board
Rising Yucatan
commits to sustainable
development
Yucatan state has become the
rising star of Mexican tourism in
recent years, with growth nudging
16% in 2017, according to Enrique
Monroy Abunader, head of tourism
promotion at the Yucatan tourism
board.
Located with the Yucatan peninsula
in Mexico’s east, the state has a vast
wealth of natural, gastronomic,
cultural and archaeological
offerings. However the key point
of difference is sustainability,
especially for key source markets
in Europe.
“Our tourism development is
planned and managed in a way
that doesn’t cause impact on our
environment, or social-cultural
problems,” Abunader told ITB
Berlin News.
With sun 300 days per year, the
Yucatan tourism board is strongly
promoting solar power in the
sector, with hotels like the Hyatt
and Intercontinental already
having “elite certification” for using
renewables.
The goal is to also to ensure that
coastal infrastructure has minimal
environmental impact via the
maintenance of mangroves,
estuaries and sanctuaries that
sustain the region’s famed pink
flamingo, for example. Moreover,
there is a close dialogue with
communities who manage these
coastal zones that are also integral
to the local Mayan culture.
In this way, a new railway that will
begin construction in 2019 will be
encouraged to get off the beaten
path along the coast and explore
untapped nature reserves further
inland - though with minimal
impact. Chichen Itza, the iconic
Mayan city and one of the “new”
seven wonders of the world and a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one
of the stops along the route.
While Yucatan is already a hit
with the business segment,
offering Mexico’s highest
rated infrastructure for events,
conventions and incentive trips,
the destination is focusing on key
markets that demand sustainability.
“We are therefore aiming to be an
ecotourism destination as well,”
Abunader said of the low impact
approach to tourism development.
“We know that the European
market is looking for this kind of
destination that is more related to
nature and culture”
Colombia: A total
South American
experience in one
European demand for travel
to Colombia is currently
outstripping flight availability,
according to Deputy Minister
of Tourism in Colombia, Juan
Pablo Franky.
“There is no room, this is
something that has to be
solved,” Franky told ITB Berlin
News in the wake of expanding
demand for a destination
that promises to combine a
total South American travel
experience in one location.
With 12% growth from the
German market alone in 2017
(though the Spanish market
remains four times the size,
benefitting from many more
flight connections), Europe is
being sold on the rising South
American hotspot that boasts
both diversity, and biodiversity.
“From the Amazon to the
Caribbean, we have one
million square kilometres of
tropical destination options,
365 days of perfect weather
conditions, and four thousand
kilometres of sea coast, half
the Pacific, half the Atlantic.
You have the mountains, the
coffee growing areas, the
magnificent archaeological
sites,” Franky explained.
Communicating this diversity is
therefore one of the challenges
that the Colombian tourism
authority was addressing at ITB
Berlin. To this end, a particular
focus is growing agritourism
offerings, especially in the
coffee plantations dotted
around the highland region.
Colombian coffee is regarded
as some of the best quality in
the region, if not the world,
and the culture around the
aromatic bean is another key
tourism selling point.
“It’s a unique experience to go
and to see and to really feel
what coffee is for us,” said
Franky.
Another key part of Franky’s
mission at ITB Berlin is to
“convince more investors
to see Columbia as a great
opportunity.” He describes
Colombia’s tax benefit policy
that was created as an incentive
to tourism investment in the
South American nation. Hotel
developers, for instance, can
obtain tax breaks for up to 20
years.
A number of major hotel
chains, Marriott to Accor,
have already taken advantage
of the incentive, however the
goal is to attract more resort
properties. In this regard,
Franky is hopeful that a major
deal negotiated at ITB Berlin
will soon be announced
Ruins of the Ciudad Perdida,
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,
Colombia
© Gavin Rough
ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 15 th March 2019