San Miguel de Allende, one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations, will enter a partnership with the Aspen Chamber Resort Association (ACRA) this week, when Mayor Mauricio Trejo travels to the United States to sign an official agreement.

The announcement comes as San Miguel is bouncing back full force from the dearth of tourists during the pandemic and hoping to promote itself to a wider set of international travelers — such as groups that include families with kids and travelers looking for pet-friendly options. The UNESCO World Heritage site has typically been known more for attracting retired foreigners, destination weddings and young affluent Mexicans who spend the weekend.

The agreement means that ACRA and San Miguel de Allende will promote each other’s cities as destinations and participate in joint activities like the “Day in SMA” event planned for the Aspen Jazz Festival. Mayor Trejo will continue his working tour of the United States with a trip to New York, where he will sign an agreement for an outpost of the World Trade Center (WTC) company to be established in his city.

Speaking to San Miguel de Allende businesses this week, Mayor Trejo said that the signing of this agreement represented international faith in the safety and security of the city in a moment when violence throughout Mexico is prominent in the press.

“If there was no confidence in San Miguel de Allende, in its residents, this offer … wouldn’t have been accepted,” he said. “In addition, we have a date with the World Trade Center in New York to announce that this international company will be coming to San Miguel.”

The state of Guanajuato recently made national and international news on August 9 after criminal groups responded to the arrest of an organized crime leader by unleashing a night of fiery blockades, arson and shootings in Zapopan, Jalisco, and in Guanajuato cities like Celaya and Irapuato — but not in San Miguel de Allende.

San Miguel de Allende has much lower crime levels than those two cities, but both are within an hour’s drive, and the municipality has not been immune to encroaching violence in the last several years.

Trejo said that his city is becoming an oasis to such violence.

“While other parts of Mexico are burning,” he said, “San Miguel is succeeding.”

With reports from Periodico Correo and  Travel Weekly. and AM and BBC

• CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article contained incorrect information that San Miguel de Allende and Aspen, Colorado, were entering into a sister-city relationship.