On the tourism front, Mera takes office with a clear diagnosis: after years of ups and downs, the industry needs firm signals to consolidate its recovery, organize flows, and strengthen the links in the value chain. One immediate issue will be managing access and the visitor experience at the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, where logistical tensions and conflicts with transport operators have highlighted the need for sustainable solutions agreed upon with local stakeholders. The ministry will have to coordinate with the Culture and Transport ministries, regional governments, and private operators to ensure predictability, quality of service, and protection of heritage.
In foreign trade, her track record points to continuity and greater ambition in the policy of openness and the leveraging of agreements. The new minister has been involved in complex negotiations and is closely familiar with sector sensitivities related to intellectual property, market access, and trade facilitation. This is key to supporting small and medium-sized exporting companies, diversifying the export basket, and improving linkages with providers of services, logistics, and technologies—without losing sight of regulatory integrity and the sustainability targets demanded by international markets.
Mera replaces Desilú León and inherits initiatives already underway, including efforts to deepen tourism competitiveness and non-traditional exports. Policy continuity and coordination with business associations, subnational governments, and PromPerú will be decisive in sustaining momentum at trade fairs, business matchmaking events, and destination promotion campaigns, as well as in refining the digital strategy and market intelligence for increasingly demanding consumers.
For its part, MINCETUR has been promoting cross-cutting agendas such as circular economy in tourism, which require process modernization, standards, and capacity building across the territory. Embedding these tools in the day-to-day operations of companies and destinations will help raise competitiveness and respond to global sustainability trends—now a non-optional factor in travel decisions. Under Mera’s technically focused leadership, these commitments can be accelerated and aligned with recovery objectives.
The appointment also sends a message of stability to trade partners and source markets: Peru will maintain a state policy on foreign trade and tourism, led by an authority who knows the ministry’s inner workings and teams and who has taken part in the country’s major trade policy milestones in recent decades. In the short term, priorities will be to rebuild private-sector and traveler confidence, improve intersectoral coordination, and unblock critical projects; in the medium term, to speed up the diversification of markets and products with quality and sustainability standards, and to consolidate the country as a competitive and safe destination in the region.
With Teresa Mera’s swearing-in, the Government places at the helm of MINCETUR a professional with firsthand knowledge and a long-term vision. The extent to which foreign trade and tourism become true engines of stability, jobs, and territorial development in this new political cycle will depend on her ability to build consensus and implement reforms.
