While the fireworks and festivities have faded, Mazatlán is still glowing from the recognition and praise of world travel leaders who attended Mexico’s annual travel industry trade show in Mazatlán, April 15-18, 2018 at the Mazatlán International Center. Heralded as the best Tianguis Turístico on record by Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, Enrique de la Madrid, Mazatlán continues to garner accolades from the more than 1,500 international buyers representing 64 countries, and hundreds of exhibitors who attended the convention.
“We are humbled by the very positive response we received from everyone attending the convention,” said Quirino Ordaz Coppel, Governor of Sinaloa. “This is an event of an enormous magnitude that brought together the best and most influential people in the travel and tourism industry from around the world, and it came at a time when México is experiencing tremendous growth in international air, vehicle, cruise line travel, and hotel occupancy. We were honored to have Mazatlán host this historic business-building event and to have had the opportunity to showcase our idyllic beach destination, currently enjoying its own renaissance and thriving culture, to our respected guests,” Ordaz Coppel added.
For many, it had been years since they had visited Mazatlán and to witness their declarations of discovering of a newly revitalized destination was truly gratifying for me and the entire community that has been working so diligently toward this celebrated México tourism event,” said Marco Garcia Castro, Secretary of Tourism. “As ‘Mazatlecos,’ we were very proud to share our culture, cuisine, and community with the world’s tourism community. We were also very excited to have Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, as our keynote speaker. He has a very special relationship with México and his chat session highlighting ‘Tourism and Technology’ was perfect for our global audience,” García Castro added.
The timing could not be better. México’s tourism saw an incredible resurgence in 2017, hosting 39.3 million international visitors – a 12% increase over the record 35.1 million welcomed in 2016. Mazatlán recorded similar growth trends in 2017, with international arrivals increasing 8% from the previous year. The trend has carried over into 2018, and the destination has recently earned accolades from Forbes, TripAdvisor, U.S. News & World Report and American Express Travel. Following this recent success, Mazatlán has been nominated for the title of Mexico & Central America’s Leading Tourism Destination by the prestigious World Travel Awards – confirming the destination is Mexico’s latest ‘soaring star’.
