As part of its “Journey Across Mexico in Eight Days” program, the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV) is preparing new tourism products in Quintana Roo to bring in more visitors.

The “Journey Across Quintana Roo in Eight Days” vacation package is a tour in which 42-passenger buses will take visitors from Chetumal International Airport to top tourist attractions with two departures a week.

National AMAV president Eduardo Paniagua Morales said the objective of the program is to create new vacation products that provide tourists with fresh experiences and generate more revenue for the states that participate.

The tours in Quintana Roo are expected to generate 756,000 pesos (US $40,000) a week, he said.

They will take tourists to popular and not-so-popular sites alike, such as the Bacalar lagoon, the coastal town of Mahahual, the cenote sinkhole in La Unión on the border with Belize, and forests of thousand-year-old mahogany trees in Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

Also on the itinerary will be Tulum, the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, the Cobá lagoon, more cenotes and other destinations. The tour will end in Puerto Morelos.

Paniagua said that at the national level the program is estimated to bring in 450 million pesos (US $23.8 million) of revenue and will start off in the states of Tabasco, San Luis Potosí and Campeche once the details are worked out with AMAV affiliates and tourism service providers.

In addition to the eight-day vacation packages, the association is also putting together three and five-day tours.

The idea is to gradually add other states, for which AMAV has also held meetings with tourism secretaries in Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Coahuila and Zacatecas to plan new tourism routes among their Pueblos Mágicos and other tourist destinations.

The association’s offering of tours can be viewed on its website (Spanish only).

Source: El Economista (sp)