Attempting to reactivate the state’s tourism economic sector in the face of Covid-19, the Aguascalientes government has opened a new wine route to visitors.

The state is marking the route’s inauguration with a special 10-day event that started September 3, offering more than 300 activities to wine aficionados at 10 wineries and six other “complementary sites” around the state. The Ruta del Vino event ends next Sunday.

State Tourism Minister Humberto Montero said the tourism sector has been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which he says is clear from the wide range of businesses participating in the route and attempting to mitigate the economic effects.

However, Montero sees the new wine route as supporting much more than just the gastronomical producers directly involved, adding that hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, taxi drivers, and even musicians benefit, “an endless supply of service providers in the state that we are putting in motion.”

Montero projected that the event will garner 33 million pesos in revenues, attracting between 32,000 and 35,000 visitors.

More than a short-term solution, the route’s goal is threefold, not only revitalizing the economy but also recovering Aguascalientes’ tradition as a grape producer and diversifying its tourism offerings. While the current event ends Sunday, the route participants’ sites will continue to welcome visitors indefinitely and state officials plan to expand the route by the end of 2020 with seven more vineyards.

The additional vineyards are currently working on developing their sites to give tourists “a distinct experience,” Montero said.

The open-air nature of vineyards and the limited-capacity attendance that will be required at each site make this sort of tourist activity ideal, Montero said, adding that each site will have different capacity restrictions and that visitors will have to make a reservation through the wine route’s website to attend. 

Each participating site has been validated as a safe space by the state’s Guardia Sanitaria, a force of 50 medical professionals created earlier this year to monitor compliance with Covid-19 sanitary rules by businesses and other public spaces like daycare centers and open-air markets.

Source: Milenio (sp)