Over the course of her career, she served on the board of the Los Tajibos Hotel Group, one of the country’s industry benchmarks, and led projects at the Doria Medina Foundation linked to strengthening tourism competitiveness and fostering innovative entrepreneurship. Her experience in managing tourism enterprises and coordinating public–private initiatives has been recognized by stakeholders across the sector, who value her ability to craft effective policy and her focus on professionalizing tourism.
The forthcoming Ministry of Tourism and Gastronomy will mark an institutional milestone. Its goal will be to consolidate Bolivia’s tourism and gastronomic offerings as engines of sustainable development, diversify tourism products, and enhance the country’s international image. The new structure will bring together, under a unified vision, policies for promotion, professional training, business innovation, and the preservation of natural and cultural heritage. It will also strengthen tourism’s links with agriculture, artisan production, and the creative industries, generating economic opportunities across all departments.
According to official sources, elevating tourism to ministerial rank reflects the sector’s steady growth and job-creation potential, especially for youth and women. The government also highlights Bolivian gastronomy as a key element of national identity and a first-order tourism draw. In this regard, the administration plans to launch targeted programs to promote traditional cuisine, local products, and gastronomic routes, weaving ancestral knowledge together with the latest trends in experiential and wellness tourism.
Cinthia Martha Yáñez has expressed her commitment to working in close coordination with departmental and municipal governments, the private sector, entrepreneur associations, and Indigenous, rural, and urban communities. Her objective, she noted, will be to “transform tourism into a strategic pillar of national development, with an inclusive, sustainable, and culturally diverse approach.” She has also emphasized the importance of strengthening international partnerships and leveraging available technical and financial cooperation mechanisms to build sector capacity.
The new ministry’s priorities will include modernizing public tourism management, digitizing services, improving tourism infrastructure, and reinforcing technical and professional training. In addition, the government will launch an international campaign to position Bolivia as a destination of nature, culture, and flavors, showcasing the richness of its ecosystems, its ethnic diversity, and its gastronomic heritage.
With this appointment, the government reaffirms its intention to make tourism a state policy and to establish Bolivia as a significant player on Latin America’s tourism and culinary map. The creation of the ministry is a pledge to innovation, sustainability, and competitiveness, and a recognition of the strategic role of an industry capable of generating development, social cohesion, and national identity. Under the leadership of Cinthia Martha Yáñez, the country opens a new chapter to strengthen its presence on the global tourism stage.
