Summary of the Meeting

Summary of the activity "Encuentro Mensual" held on 27 April in Querétaro (Mexico)

New international trends to take tourism to the next level.

With the participation of 6,332 people in online connections (including the TSTT YouTube channel) from 37 countries, plus 450 attendees in person, the "Monthly Meeting" of the Tourism and Society Think Tank (TSTT) organised by the TSTT in collaboration with the Secretary of Tourism of the State of Querétaro (Mexico), was held at the Palacio de Congresos de Querétaro (Mexico).

The meeting was addressed by Oscar Rueda García, Director of the Executive Presidency, Development Bank of Latin America -CAF, Development Bank of Latin America; Amora Carbajal Schumacher (executive president of PROMPERÚ, Maximiliano Mauvecín (secretary general of the South American Tourism Federation), José Carlos de Santiago (president and founder of the Excelencias Group), Juan Francisco Maqueda (founder of the integrated marketing agency LatamOne), José Antonio Vidal (president of the World Organisation of Wine Tourism), Inmaculada Benito (Director of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations), Antonio Roldán Ponce (Professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden (Germany) and International Tourism Advisor), José Ramón Bauza (Member of the European Parliament; spokesperson for Renew Europe in the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament), and Mohamed Taleb (United Nations expert on Tourism and Territorial Development. Finally, Pau Roca, Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine presented the report "The State of the World Vine and Wine Sector 2021".

The meeting was opened by Mariela Morán Ocampo, Secretary of Tourism of the State of Querétaro (Mexico), who welcomed speakers and attendees and expressed that Querétaro "puts on the wings of enthusiasm to raise the state to this next level".

He went on to say that the global challenges that the pandemic presents require global approaches and local solutions. "This is a local solution related to the professionalisation of our sector. That is why we are here today, to discuss tourism opportunities with international experts. To understand how we can adapt much better to a new normality from the trends and guidelines shown by the UN Agenda 2030. Also to learn and undertake with success stories and reflect on fundamental issues, such as the optimisation of natural resources and respect for local culture," he said.

Without a doubt, tourism teaches us to value and take advantage of opportunities at every moment, said the Secretary of Tourism of Querétaro. She also urged to elevate the content and purposes of the tourism sector to better processes, to implement innovative solutions and to renew the capacity for cooperation and co-creation for better tourism.

She also affirmed how Querétaro wants to build bridges of dialogue and cooperation that "allow us to multiply efforts, boost talent, and find new paths that allow Querétaro's tourism sector to advance to the next level. I am sure that the professional trajectory and the work they carry out on a daily basis will allow us to glimpse a global panorama of tourism in the world, with its challenges and opportunities, its threats and also its trends: A more meaningful, more endearing and sustainable tourism, as dictated by the 2030 agenda of the United Nations Organisation."

In this regard, we propose ideas shared by some of the speakers at this important event for the good of the tourism industry

Oscar Rueda García, Director of the Executive Presidency, Development Bank of Latin America -CAF, said that the pandemic forced a rethink, as it is necessary to help countries to reactivate their economies. The Bank's traditional work, which was to help with infrastructure, was changed to help with health issues and support for businesses and people "in this tragedy that we are going through".

The second was to look at environmental and social stability, and a third point is to focus on the private sector, he continued. He revealed that CAF intends to triple its portfolio with the private sector by 2030. We need a very big union between the public and private sectors, and among the private sector is tourism.

This is a novelty for the Bank, to support tourism, because we think that the hardest hit by the pandemic was employment and tourism, and that is also where our opportunity for recovery lies, especially in a country as touristy as Mexico, he said.

To this end, the CAF will support green, innovative, inclusive and digitalised projects. These are the conditions for a successful tourism project in this post-pandemic era. Rueda García said that he found a very positive surprise in Querétaro, a city of great colonial and historical wealth. It is not a city, but a state that has six magical towns that make it one of the most attractive in Mexico.

He then reflected that tourism is moving towards paths of environmental sustainability, where the tourist is the protagonist, and it is precisely the objective of the CAF to contribute to this endeavour.

Maximiliano Mauvecín, Secretary General of the South American Tourism Federation, welcomed CAF's visit to this event, and how they identify tourism as a fundamental development factor.

He assured that one of the great challenges is to position tourism as a unique element of local development. We are used to financing organisations talking about infrastructure, and it was not perceived that tourism is an industry that can be developed anywhere, with a positive impact on localities.

Amora Carbajal Schumacher, executive president of PROMPERÚ, said Peru's tourism promotion office has identified new trends for this sector. We have digital natives, who are hyper-connected tourists aware of what is happening in our environment and are looking for experiences that go beyond a simple label, where the sustainability factor must be a given. This means that the analysis of large volumes of data and the digitisation of the tourism product and sustainability are essential components.

The revival of tourism is still in a climate of uncertainty, so we must be more flexible in our strategy. This situation, as well as stimulating innovation, also revealed its great structural weaknesses. PROMPERÚ is therefore working on a study of digital gaps to provide a starting point for access to tourism. The study has shown the need to encourage a new professional culture and other transformations.

Mohamed Taleb, United Nations expert on Tourism and Territorial Development, referred to what would be the best conditions for a public policy in the field of tourism. In this regard, he said that the variables offered today by new technologies should be analysed in order to model the best solutions. This is what makes the difference between a successful country and one that fails.

Juan Francisco Maqueda, founder of integrated marketing agency LatamOne, added that the UNWTO is today promoting new solutions for tourism, which he applauded.

He said that they are now developing key actions in the area of leisure. Today we have to be global, which means working on content in several languages, understanding who the visitor is who is coming because he or she will have other demands. In a way, being global will allow the destination to become more professional, he said. Tourism has to be connected with other actors, education, culture, sports, entertainment, in order to generate a virtuous circle.

Antonio Roldán Ponce, professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden, Germany, and International Tourism Advisor, pondered the relevance of this Think Tank, and stressed that a very important issue is the future of tourism, with digitalisation as something that is "to be adjusted or desirable", if not necessary. The customer already expects these digital solutions to be available now.

José Ramón Bauza, Member of the European Parliament; spokesperson for Renew Europe in the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism, said in his presentation that tourism today has a high strategic value after an unprecedented historic slump due to the pandemic. He stressed that he is working to ensure that the added value of tourism is recognised, from the local to the global.

José Antonio Vidal, president of the World Organisation of Wine Tourism, spoke of the importance of this form of tourism and how global and national organisations can take the industry to the next level.

To say Enotourism, he said, is to say welcome to the industry of happiness, because it means travelling, sharing nature and gastronomy and all the resources that exist in wine destinations. We are in the right business, but only for entrepreneurs who understand the importance of sustainability, he said.

Wine tourism is the driving force of the agro-tourism sector, but it is not just about visiting vineyards, but all the resources present in the destinations. In short, it is tourism, and that is how it should be understood by entrepreneurs and public administrations. The latter should focus on the types of events they sponsor when deciding on tourism. Our events are for the sector and not for the wine industry, which we will obviously also support if we are asked to do so.

He said that the World Organisation of Wine Tourism integrates the private and public sector at all levels, and is supported by the academic sector. OMET, which was formed during the confinement, is an eight year old project. And it was created at that time because we thought it was the right time because of the loneliness and demotivation of that stage, and we considered that what the new era was going to demand of us needed this organisation: innovation, integration and communication based on values.

Inmaculada Benito, Director of the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE), briefly explained the CEOE as an institution and tool for Spanish and Latin American entrepreneurs, emphasising the strength of business associations, while highlighting her vision of the national and international tourism industry.

Finally, via online connection, María Rosa Sánchez Jiménez, Deputy Mayor Delegate for City Promotion and Investment Attraction of the City Council of Málaga (Spain), explained how the city of Málaga has faced the pandemic and the efforts made to ensure, through collaboration between the public and private sectors, that Málaga is one of the most prominent European cities on the international tourism scene.

Author: with the collaboration of the Excelencia Group