A year ago, Guanajuato held on its soil the 19th edition of the International Tourism Congress. The theme of that congress was: “Tourism, driver of global development”. Today, Guanajuato is proud to have six cities available for business tourism.
The state is positioned in the fifth place in the national ranking in the fulfillment of tourism. The city of Guanajuato is a crucial destination worldwide. It is one of the state’s World Heritage cities, and is both a university and a historical center.
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“Guanajuato is a cultural destination that is currently dedicated to MICE tourism (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions). The tourism capacity and infrastructure of cities such as León, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Irapuato, Celaya and Silao allow participants to enjoy destination and participate in a convention, congress or exhibition,” said Guanajuato’s Secretary of Tourism, Juan José álvarez Brunel, in an exclusive interview with TravelPulse.
Ramón Godínez Ortiz, president of the Mexican Association of Psychotherapy and Thanatology (Ampytac), said that in 2000 “we started this congress to have a constant preparation and to share ideas according to today’s times. Today, very few academic congresses take place in the world with this vision and related to tourist activity, and Guanajuato has received us very well.”
Concentration of Efforts
“Tourism is one of the economic activities that generates better conditions of well-being and development, creates jobs, distributes economic income and favors the protection of cultural and natural heritage,” added a Guanajuato state official.
For this reason, through the Ministry of Tourism, the state government has the challenge of strengthening new measures, improving operational capabilities and focusing efforts to provide better services to attendees.
Together, Guanajuato’s six cities manage to attract national and international events to more than 83,000 square meters of exhibition floor space in Guanajuato’s various venues.
Data from the Guanajuato Tourism Observatory from September 2020 to January 2021 show that 3 million people visited the city of Leon, resulting in an economic income of 425,000 (8.5 million pesos) and a hotel occupancy rate of 20 percent.
Statistics show that more than 710,000 tourists arrived at hotels during this period, resulting in 496,000 occupied rooms. Visitors stayed an average of 1.2 days. The Observatory also states that these were the main activities they carried out:
—Leisure/Recreation: 37 percent
— Shopping: 20 percent
—Business/Work: 19 percent
—Cultural/religious activities: 13 percent
—MIJ: 8 percent
– Gastronomic: 1 percent
—Welfare: 1 percent
— Romance: 1 percent
The demographic profile of tourists shows that of the total number of visitors, 57 percent were men aged 39 and 43 percent were women of the same age. It also shows that 58 percent were from the same state, 40 percent were national, and 2 percent were international. Forty-one percent were tourists and 51 percent were excursionists.
At the state level, these are the main cities of origin:
—Silao: 22 percent
-Irapuato: 20 percent
—Guanajuato: 18 percent
— Celaya: 11 percent
León, a Development Pole
Álvarez Brunel noted that León has the ideal infrastructure for conventions, exhibitions and business tourism. “León is no longer just the city of leather and shoes, but also host to important events, services and business tourism. We want to welcome visitors from Mexico and the world with open arms,” said Guanjuato’s Secretary of Tourism.
The main reasons for visiting the city are shopping tourism at 29 percent and business/work tourism at 27 percent.
Tourism in Leon exceeded expectations in 2021. The city had an economic outflow of $5.8 million (116.5 million pesos) when the projection during the first quarter of that year was $3.75 million (75 million pesos) .
The city hosted 75 conventions and business events last year, of which 30 were held in the previous four months. Also, 15 events were supported by the municipality; nine were captives and six were walkers, with 28,306 people attending in person.
Guanajuato is one of the top tourist destinations, with 45 percent of tourism coming from neighboring states.
Expectations for 2023 are favorable. León already has five events confirmed: National Meeting of Clinical Chemists; National Congress of Clinical Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy; Mexican Congress of Orthopedics and Traumatology; and Perio Master Clinic (periodontics), a world event that was postponed to 2022 due to sanitary conditions resulting from COVID-19.
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