Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) offers an excellent variety of cultural attractions. Last year, the INAH registered no less than 18 million visitors passing through the doors of its archaeological sites and museums.

The INAH’s visitor numbers for last year show an annual increase of 10% over 2009, which means Mexico’s cultural charms – of which the INAH oversees 180 archaeological sites, 116 museums and 17 historical monuments – are clearly winning their battle for recognition with the country’s tourists, both national and international.

One of the ways the Institute is attracting more and more people to its cultural offering is by providing the opportunity to visit a selection of archaeological sites and museums during the evenings, thus making them more accessible to the ever-more-selective public. Included in this program is Mexico City’s National Anthropological Museum, without doubt one of the finest in the world!

Although last year’s visitor numbers were not the highest on record, set in 2008, when 19.06 million people went through the Institute’s turnstyles, the 18 million figure shows positive signs on the cultural front after the health scare affected all the tourism figures during 2009, when the INAH properties attracted 16.42 million visitors.

Well worth a mention, the total of foreign visitors to Mexico’s archaeological sites and museums showed a substantial increase last year, when 3.5 million international visitors entered the Intitute’s establishments. Up 19% on the previous year.

One of the reason’s for the increase in foreign-visitor numbers to the magnificent archeaological sites and world-class museums was the Intitute’s promotional activities, these included a long list of international exhibitions held in five of the world’s continents.

Not surprisingly, Mexico City and the surrounding area was where the largest numbers of visitors were recorded due to the elevated number of tourists to the country’s capital (19,603,481 in 2010) and the fact that many of the ‘national’ museums are located in the region. Just north of the city is the world-famous archaeological site of Teotihuacan, a definate favourite with tourists.

In all, the country’s capital provided the INAH with 10 millon visitors to its archaelogical sites and museums throughout 2010.

However, the capital can certainly not be said to have the monopoly on the country’s cultural attractions. For example, the south-eastern Peninsula of Yucatan -part of the geographical zone previously inhabited by the Maya people- recorded over 5 million visitors to its archaeological sites, including of course one of the New Wonders of the World, the Kukulkan pyramid, which forms part of the Chichen Itza archaeological zone.

For its part, the Oaxaca region recorded no less than 800,000 visitors to its sites and museums. Here, you can take in the splendour of the hill-top location of Monte Alban and Mitla, usually passing through Santa Maria del Tule to see the world’s largest tree trunk, known as the Árbol del Tule, in 2001 the girth of its trunk measured 36.2 m (119 ft).

Despite the recently published positive figures regarding international arrivals to Mexico, Gloria Guevara Manzo, the country’s Tourism Minister, in a meeting celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the local Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce and Tourism Services (Confederación de Cámaras Nacionales de Comercio y Servicios Turísticos) – Concanaco-Servytur, called on the country’s business community to unite their promotional efforts with those of the government in a bid to further increase the growth of the national tourism sector.

During the Anniversary celebrations, the Minister also highlighted the fact that, for Mexico, tourism activity currently represents 9% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), emphasising the government’s efforts to promote the country’s alternative tourism options, in addition to the country’s already world-renowned ‘sun and sand’ destinations.

As an example of the range of options offered to visitors, both national and international, Gloria Guevara mentioned Mexico’s Magic Towns, World Heritage sites, Colonial cities, archaeological sites and the newly created ‘routes,’ which bundle  several of the aforementioned attractions into impressive packages.

Also aimed at promoting growth in the country’s national tourism sector, the Minister recently announed a Call for Comprehensive National Communication to Promote National Tourism, going under the name of ‘Ideas for Mexico,’ in which the country’s National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is to play an important role. The challenge is to create world-class promotional programs for the country’s tourism sector, but aimed at the national market.

By the end of this year, the projection is that 160 million touristic trips will have been made by Mexicans, and if all goes as planned with the aforementioned incentive to promote the country’s alternative tourism options, the hope is that an additional 20 million trips by Mexicans next year will help the growth of the 3rd most important sector in the country: Tourism, alongside the growth in international visitor numbers.

Although there have already been some festivities in the Zocalo –main square- of Mexico City, the real celebrations for the 100^th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution begin this evening, the centre of attraction being the Monument to the Revolution; having recently been remodelled, the Monument will be officially reopened at 18:00 hours, and will be the site for an impressive light and sound spectacular.

Meanwhile, in the Zocalo, another light and sound show will be presented once again (daily shows at 21:00 hours from the 11^th to the 23^rd of November), using the main buildings in the square, the cathedral, the National Palace and the headquarters of the Mexico City government, as the backdrop for the show Yo México – a historical adventure told through the use of light and sound.

This show is projected on a 270-degree backdrop covering 12,000 square meters and relates the history of Mexico; by the end of the 13 shows the estimate is that around 800,000 people will have attended this impressive spectacle of light and sound.

In addition to the visual documentary on Mexico, there is live music with three different stages being used for no less than 300 participants, an excellent festival of music and dance, free for all the family!

A further option, which is on show for a longer period and therefore could be of interest to more international visitors, is the photographic exhibition: Testimonios de una guerra – Testimonies of a War, which will be on show in 27 different museums around the country, and runs until February of 2011.

The exhibition will be on show in the Museo de El Carmen, in Mexico City; the Museo de la Revolución de la Frontera Norte, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; the Museo Regional de Nuevo León, El Obispado, in Monterrey and the Museo Regional de Oaxaca, housed in the former convent of Santo Domingo, among others.

Thanks to the Mexican Tourism Board (MTB) you can now visit Mexico through your iPhone, the application provides nationwide coverage with information on all the states of the country.

Among the information available through the Mexico Guide application are sections on Where to go… Activities… News… About Mexico… Weather and Videos, including the countries 27 top tourist destinations.

Destination information includes hotels and restaurants, with a map option and reservations system, as well as photos, and is available in both Spanish and English-language versions, and best of all, the application is free and downloadable here!

The application, created by the MTB is compatible with iPod touch and iPad and requires iOS 3.1, or later, and uses just 9.6 MB of your memory.

At the 31^st edition of the World Travel Market (WTM) being held at the Exhibition and Conference Centre (Excel) in London’s Docklands, from November 8^th to 11^th, Gloria Guevara Manzo, Mexico’s Tourism Minister, announced that next year Mexican tourism promotion throughout Europe will be the focus of a newly designed strategy aimed specifically at England, France, Gemany, Italy and Spain.

Mexico, like the rest of Latin America, according to the recently released ‘WTM Global Trends Report 2010 today,’ is switching its marketing focus from its traditional sun and sand options to the lesser-known adventure and ecotourism activities that cover the Mexican map from top to bottom.

A positive aspect that came out of the report, which was carried out in association with Euromonitor International, shows that Mexico, and Latin America as a whole, has bounced back from the recent economic crisis at a greater rythm than other tourism destinations around the world.

In the confines of the WTM, Gloria Guevara is to meet with local tour operators to promote the cultural aspects of Mexico’s tourism options, including the ‘Magic Towns‘ programme and, in relation to the country’s sustainable tourism sector, Gloria Guevara attended the London School of Economics, where she gave a talk on the country’s sustainable tourism activities, stressing the community benifits that result from this tourism niche.

On the Minister’s Twitter page, after meetings with TUI, the German tour operator, Gloria Guevara said the company has committed itself to a visit to Mexico in the near future with a view to increasing their Mexican tourism portfolio.

Also, in talks with Elite Luxury Travel, the minister emphasised that according to the specialist in luxury resort vacations in Europe, Central America and the U.S., Mexico is currently the company’s preferred destination.

In the latest comment on her twitter page, at the time of publication, there is a ‘tweet’ that says Thomas Cook, one of the most important British travel agents, has pledged to increase the company’s Mexican holiday capacity by 30%, excellent news regarding the travelling public from England arriving to Mexican shores. During the past January-September period, British visitors registered an increase of 15% over the same period in 2009. So, with the aforemntioned new options, that number should continue to grow!

In the wake of the global economic crisis, the 7^th International Tourism Forum offers a special opportunity to discuss the issues related to the future of the global tourism industry and the role of government within the national tourism sectors of the world.

This year’s annual meeting will be held in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, from November 16^th to 18^th, and for this year’s Seventh edition, the focus is to be placed on the current challenges facing tourism governance and the lessons that can be learned from the recent economic crisis in relation to the global tourism sector.

One of the most important forums to be held will be ‘The contribution of tourism to sustainable development and to the Millennium Development Goals, the keynote speaker being Mr. Francesco Frangialli, former Secretary-General of the UN’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Another aspect covered in this year’s forum will be how public and private-sector participants should work together in the promotion of the tourism sector so as to gain optimum results for the global, national and regional sectors of this important source of employment and income for the vast majority of the world’s countries.

The idea then is to define the role of the public and private sectors by identifying the instruments that should be put into place so as to encourage partnership between the two sectors, whilst preserving and stimulating sustained and green economic growth, thus creating futher opportunities to redress the poverty levels throughout the world.

Other themes to be covered in this year’s forums include Consumer protection; the economic impact of migration on tourism development; public-private partnerships to improve competitiveness and tourism governance, along with ‘the place of tourism in institutions.’

Assisting this year’s 7th International Tourism Forum will be representatives from Mexico’s Tourism Ministry, along with representatives from many of the world’s tourism ministries; delegates from national and international tourism organizations; local authorities from around the globe and members of development agencies as well as UN officials and influential personalities from global private-sector tourism companies.

The opening ceremony will be attended by Mexico’s Tourism Minister, Gloria Guevara; the Governor of Jalisco State, Emilio Gonzalez Marquez; the mayor of Puerto Vallarta, Salvador Gonzalez Resendiz; the Tourism Minister for the Philippines, Mr. Alberto A. Lim and the Sectretary General of the UNWTO, Mr. Taleb Rifai.

Sustainable tourism in Mexico has recently seen some interesting initiatives for this niche, one definately worth watching. The latest ‘noteworthy’ event is the coming together of the Mexican Tourism Board (MTB) and Green Living Project™ (GLP), a broadcast-media network that covers the advance of sustainability projects around the globe. The video above is a documentary on sustainable tourism in the Andes.

At the moment, documentary film highlighting 6 sustainable tourism projects in the Republic’s southeastern states of Quintana Roo, Yucatan; Chiapas and Oaxaca, is being carried out by the partnership ‘in preparation’ for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP16), the first full meeting since the Copenhagen talks -Literally!- and will open its doors on Nov. 29^th and continue until Dec.10^th.

The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) was the norm used when deciding which of the many eligible, tourism-related sustainable projects in the country were to be chosen for the filming by the MTB and its partners: Rainforest Alliance, Conservation International and Sustainable Travel International, along with many others.

According to Denia del Valle, Sustainable Tourism Program Manager (Mesoamerica) for Rainforest Alliance, the idea is “to provide the general public, government officials and other key stakeholders with information on the work we are doing with tourism businesses committed to sustainable principles in Mexico,” initially within the confines of the UN climate change conference, Cancun.

For his part, Rob Holmes, Founder and President of GLP, commented that “Showcasing these projects and destinations at the UN Climate Change Conference this fall will be an excellent way for everyone involved to support, promote, and celebrate the importance and benefits of sustainable tourism in relation to tourism and climate change.”

For more info, take a visit to www.greenlivingproject.com

Interested in GLP Membership? Get in touch with  Program Manager, Jenny Ersbak:
membership@greenlivingproject.com

In a truly international arena, with some of the world’s top marketing and promotional campaign producers in the running, two of the six spots produced by Mexico’s Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM): “Mexico, the place you thought you knew,” came out tops in the ‘destination’ category. The two spots picked out for their creativity were those corresponding to the Mexican destinations of the Riviera Maya (above) and the state of San Luis Potosí.

Without doubt, the winning of these Gold Magellan Awards run by Travel Weekly, the world-renowned US travel editorial, is an honour for the CPTM, more importantly though, the campaign not only impressed the judges, but also, according to the latest North-American-visitor statistics, it persuaded more people to visit Mexico from its northern neighbours, the US and Canada.

According to statistics produced by the Integral System of Migratory Operation (SIOM) for the  month of July, the number of visitors from the US and Canada registered increases of 20.1% and 65.8%, respectively, when compared with the same period in 2009.

In the words of the Deputy Director General of the country’s Tourism Promotion Council (CTPM), Rodolfo López Negrete, this result shows that “the Federal Government authorities are attaining their objectives to generate and strengthen the promotion of Mexico abroad.”

The receipt of these awards is recognition that by developing ideas, carrying out the organization and the execution of the promotional campaign in a professional manner, that Mexico can compete with the best on an international level, not only in the promotional work, but also by fulfilling the wishes of the visitor.

In interview with the local newspaper ‘El Financiero,’ the head of Mexico’s Tourism Ministry (Sectur), Gloria Guevara Manzo, announced that the local authorities are currently working in conjunction with the country’s tourism sector participants to create a ‘seal of guarantee’ with regard to the tourism services offerred to the travelling public.

This new certification program for the tourism sector is to be adopted as of 2011, when people trained by the local authorities will carry out work leading to the certification of all the country’s tourism-sector actors in a bid to increase the sector’s competitivity on an international level by actually ‘guaranteeing the tourism services’ proferred to the country’s visitors.

Obviously, as a result of the recent withdrawal of services by the Mexicana Airline Group, nowadays the New Aeronautical Group (NGA), the country’s tourism sector (the third most important in terms of the local GDP) has had some negative publicity on the international front.

However, in addition to this new certification scheme, the local Communications and Transport Minister (SCT), Juan Molinar Horcasitas, has announced that the ministry is to include an insurance policy to protect clients in the event of any future bancruptcy problems with the country’s airlines, which will form part of the upcoming changes to the country’s civil aviation policy.

As a result of the two aforementioned actions, the Mexican authorities are moving towards a more solid tourism sector, with controls and guarantees for both national and international travellers. Without doubt good news for the future!

Mexico’s Federal Government, through the country’s Tourism Ministry (Sectur), invested a total of 3.3 billion pesos in the tourism sector during the first semester of this year, up 28.2% on the same period last year, and has thus provided an additional 12,000 jobs for this important sector, according to President Felipe Calderon’s fourth-year report.

For her part, Gloria Guevara Manzo, Mexico’s Tourism Minister, commented that during this period 28 different states were benefitted by over 1.6 billion pesos, collectively, a year-on-year increase of 23.3%, monies which were spent on no less than 229 infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, the private-sector investment in tourism projects (402) during the same period was up 28.2%, national investors representing 88.4% of the total investment figure of US$1.833 million.

Among the investments made by the Federal Government were promotional projects including ‘Believe it,’ ‘Welcome Back’ and ‘Time to go,’ in North America, whilst on the national front, advertising campaigns included Vive México – Long Live Mexico and ¿Sabías qué? – Did You Know?