Thursday, September 11, 2025

2 Mexican entrepreneurs among winners of international contest

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Mexican winners Larragoiti and Soria.
Mexican winners Larragoiti and Soria.

Two young Mexican rising stars are among 10 young entrepreneurs from around the world awarded a total of 500,000 pounds sterling for their innovative solutions to realize sustainable development goals promoted by the United Nations.

Mexicans Edith Soria and Javier Larragoiti were among the winners of the Lead2030 award, presented by One Young World, an organization backed by the Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle, philanthropist Bob Geldof, Harry Potter actress Emma Watson among others, including several major international corporations. The Lead2030 awards support specifically youth-led initiatives.

Soria is the president and nutrition program coordinator of Create Purpose, a nonprofit organization that promotes the prevention of non-communicable diseases in orphans and vulnerable children living in low-income and marginalized communities in Mexico. The organization’s caretaker nutrition program is intended to improve nutrition knowledge among caregivers at orphanages and improve the nutrition quality of meals served to orphans.

Over the last two years, the project has positively impacted over 1,000 orphans and vulnerable children across 10 local orphanages, according to information provided by Lead2030.

Larragoiti is the cofounder of Xilinat, a company that offers an alternative and natural substitute to the global sugar industry. His company discovered a means of converting agricultural waste into xylitol, a natural sugar substitute that can be safely consumed by diabetics.

Edith Soria talks about her project Create Purpose.

 

Lead2030 awards young people who spearhead initiatives that meet the UN’s Sustainability Goals for 2030, a roadmap for scientific, environmental, and social change with goals ranging from recovering the world’s oceans to attacking poverty.

“Lead2030 demonstrates the importance of collaboration among big corporations and young leaders to build a better world – stressing the importance of building bridges, especially now, as the world copes with the humanitarian and environmental impacts of Covid-19,” said One Young World spokeswoman Maria Barracosa.  

Mexico News Daily

Online art event supports mutual aid organization in Mexico City

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The inauguration of Ayuda Mutua's online gallery is tonight.
The inauguration of Ayuda Mutua's online gallery is tonight.

Just weeks after the Covid pandemic started to rip through Mexico City the mutual aid group Ayuda Mutua was formed and has since expanded to include a dozen or so organizations and lots of volunteers and donors all over the city.

While providing despensas (weekly food baskets of basics) has been the group’s main focus, they’ve also found the time and energy to get involved in other efforts for local musicians, street vendors and marginalized communities that are struggling through difficult economic times.

On Tuesday Ayuda Mutua has put together an online event they hope will weave a stronger web of mutual support between local consumers and artists. A series of talks and online performances will include Diego Beyró of Casa Equis art gallery discussing how Covid has impacted Mexico City’s art world, performance artist Andrea Garay Almada performing a piece based on movement as a form of intercultural communication, and Wakolda Lefxarw preforming a part of Medea Mapuche by Chilean playwright Juan Radrigan among other performances and talks.

Interspersed among performances will be videos created by of some of Ayuda Mutua’s partner organizations. Casa Frida is a temporary home for women and trans persons needing refuge. Heroes Locales is an offshoot of Ayuda Mutua that has been working to support market and street vendors in the city during the pandemic.

Newspaper vendors from Mi Valedor, Mexico City’s first newspaper with a self-employment model for marginalized communities, will be sharing some of their photos with the online audience and talking about their significance.

Beneficiaries of each of these organizations will also have work in the online gallery. The gallery includes local pieces including one-of-a kind silk-screened sweatshirts, traditional handicrafts, woven goods and original paintings and photographs. Proceeds from the sales will be split down the middle between the artists themselves and the group’s mutual aid fund that purchases the weekly despensas delivered throughout the city to needy families.

“The idea is to build community and networks of mutual aid while at the same time helping local artists survive this difficult economic time. We want to show people that through mutual support we can be a stronger, more resilient community. It’s also, of course, going to be a really fun time,” says Hector Bialostozky, who is running PR for the event.

The online event is free but donations are welcome. To join the event and see the online art gallery visit the Ayuda Mutua Facebook page.

New measures fail to curb historic center traffic in Mexico City

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Long lineups formed as people waited to enter the historic center.
Long lineups formed as people waited to enter the historic center.

New measures announced by the Mexico City government to reduce foot traffic in the historic center amid the coronavirus pandemic failed to prevent large crowds of shoppers on Monday.

The newspaper La Jornada reported that the capital’s downtown area was bustling with people and that long lines of shoppers formed outside several shops.

Mexico City authorities announced a new scheme on Sunday under which residents should only go to the historic center on certain days depending on the first letter of their first surname. They also recommended that only one person per family travel into the downtown area in order to reduce the size of crowds.

However, La Jornada said that no efforts were made to verify shoppers’ surnames, and that entire families strolled the streets of the capital’s center.

There were scant efforts to limit the number of shoppers on busy streets, with city officials only forcing people to wait to access one particularly bustling one located adjacent to the National Palace. That strategy, however, only caused a crowd of shoppers to gather in close proximity.

La Jornada also reported that many odd-numbered businesses that should have been closed on Monday according to government restrictions secretly allowed people in to shop behind closed doors.

Informal street vendors known as ambulantes also added to the crowds on the historic center streets, where they hawked a range of products including USB flash drives, medicinal plants, food, antibacterial gel and face masks.

With many historic center streets turned into pedestrian-only thoroughfares, traffic was dense on those that remained open to vehicles.

Mexico City transitioned to “orange light” coronavirus restrictions last week, a move that allowed many businesses to reopen at a reduced capacity. However, after large crowds of shoppers descended on the historic center, the government ordered nonessential businesses to close over the weekend as it rethought its reopening strategy.

Given yesterday’s crowds, they may be forced to go back to the drawing board once again, or at least enforce the existing restrictions.

Covid-19 case numbers and hospital admissions have trended downwards in the capital in recent weeks but Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has expressed concern that new infections could spike as more and more people resume their everyday activities.

Announcing the switch to “orange light” restrictions in late June, Sheinbaum stressed that if hospital occupancy levels exceed 65%, stricter “red light” restrictions will be reinstated.

Source: La Jornada (sp) 

Migrants, arms trafficking also on agenda for López Obrador-Trump summit

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Trump tweeted a photo on Monday of his visit two weeks ago to the border wall, raising speculation that the topic would come up at his meeting with Mexico's president.
Trump tweeted a photo on Monday of his visit two weeks ago to the border wall, raising speculation that the topic would come up at his meeting with Mexico's president.

In addition to trade, migrants and arms trafficking will be on the agenda at the first face-to-face meeting between President López Obrador and United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

The main purpose of the summit is to celebrate the July 1 entry into force of the new North American free trade pact, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that he won’t attend the Washington D.C. summit.

López Obrador, who will fly commercial to the U.S. capital today, said Monday that discussion of migrants will be an “important part” of his meeting with Trump. He said he will advocate for the “respectful treatment” of Mexicans who live in the United States, a cohort which includes the so-called “dreamers,” undocumented migrants who entered the U.S as children.

“I’m going to represent [migrants], I’m going to speak about them. They won’t be ignored,” López Obrador said

The newspaper El Financiero reported that in addition to the USMCA and the issue of migration, the two leaders will speak about operation “Frozen,” a joint Mexico-United States effort to freeze the illegal movement of guns between the two countries.

The president said last week that he could raise with Trump the decade-old “fast and furious” gun-running sting, in which the United States government allowed people to buy guns illegally in the U.S. and smuggle them into Mexico so that the weapons could be tracked and law enforcement officials could locate and arrest crime bosses.

For its part, the White House said in a statement that Trump will welcome López Obrador to Washington “as part of their continued partnership on trade, health, and other issues central to regional prosperity and security.”

López Obrador said Monday that he will visit the Lincoln Memorial and the memorial to former Mexican president Benito Juárez on Wednesday morning before meeting with Trump and other U.S. officials at the White House in the afternoon and evening.

President Trump will host a dinner Wednesday night at his official residence to be attended by the Mexican government delegation as well as a select group of Mexican businessmen who are also members of López Obrador’s business advisory council.

López Obrador said he will stay at the Mexican Embassy during his visit to Washington, his first overseas trip since he took office in late 2018. He is expected to return to Mexico on Thursday.

The president has come under fire for agreeing to meet with Trump, who some people believe will use him as an electoral prop.

'We're different from previous governments so there's nothing to fear,' the president said Tuesday morning.
‘We’re different from previous governments so there’s nothing to fear,’ the president said Tuesday morning.

But López Obrador justified the visit by saying that the visit was in Mexico’s interests and that a new era of respect in the bilateral relationship began when he took office.

However, the depth of the respect was questioned just hours later when Trump on Monday tweeted images of himself inspecting a section of newly-built wall on the border between the United States and Mexico, raising speculation that he could seek to discuss its funding with the Mexican president.

López Obrador said Tuesday morning that security would likely be on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting but he declined to say what Mexico’s position would be on the border wall issue. He pledged that he would not enter into any agreements that are harmful to Mexico.

“We’re different [from past governments] so there’s nothing to fear. On the contrary, this meeting will help us,” López Obrador said.

The president also revealed that he had tested negative for Covid-19, a prerequisite for meeting with Trump, adding that it would be irresponsible to travel to the U.S. and meet with officials if he were sick.

López Obrador has previously refused to take a Covid-19 test despite having been in contact with government officials who tested positive.

His trip to the United States has been criticized by some political pundits, former government officials and everyday Mexicans, who point out that Trump has a long history of insulting Mexico, but a recent poll showed that 59% of respondents are in favor of the bilateral meeting.

Opposition lawmakers have also weighed into the debate over the merits of the meeting, and urged López Obrador not to allow Trump to dictate terms.

National Action Party Deputy Luis Mendoza Acevedo demanded that opposition party officials and business leaders be allowed to participate in the discussions with U.S. officials or at least observe them, while Verónica Juárez, leader of the Democratic Revolution Party in the lower house of Congress, declared that the “bilateral relationship cannot be subjected to Trump’s dictations.”

“Our country has to recover an autonomous, responsible, caring and sovereign foreign policy,” Juárez said, adding that López Obrador mustn’t allow Trump to use him to his electoral advantage.

She urged López Obrador to raise the illegal arms trafficking issue, highlighting that some 2,000 weapons enter Mexico on a daily basis and end up in the hands of violent criminals. Juárez also said that Mexico must raise its concerns about the drug trade, namely the ongoing high demand for narcotics in the United States.

Citizens Movement party Senator Clemente Castañeda said that López Obrador has an obligation to advocate for the defense of the human rights of Mexican migrants in the United States.

“A historic opportunity will be lost” if he doesn’t raise the issue, Castañeda said, charging that the meeting with Trump will be a failure if the interests of migrants are not discussed.

The U.S. president’s immigration policies have increased persecution against migrants in the United States, he added.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp), El Economista (sp) 

Sinkhole swallows courier truck during heavy rainfall in Jalisco

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Sinkhole halts deliveries.
Sinkhole halts deliveries.

Floods, fallen trees, stranded vehicles and a sinkhole that swallowed a truck are just some of the results of the heavy rains that fell on the Guadalajara metropolitan area Monday night and into Tuesday morning, authorities report.

The intense rains led to the reopening of a sinkhole in the La Calma neighborhood of Zapopan which a courier truck was unable to avoid Monday night. 

Photos show the unfortunate, five-tonne, fully loaded Estafeta truck partially submerged in a gaping hole filled with water that opened up alongside López Mateos Avenue. 

The sinkhole is located on the sidewalk, which the driver of the truck tried to transit to avoid flooded streets.

This is the same sinkhole that has been reported on social media networks since late 2019, according to the newspaper El Informador.

Civil Protection and the Zapopan fire department say that neither the driver nor his two passengers were injured. 

A second sinkhole, partially located inside a house, opened up in Zapopan’s city center. 

Flooding was also reported in the Lomas de Polanco neighborhood near Ramón Alcorta and Calle 32 where the water level surpassed one meter.  

Municipal rescue crews were able to save five adults and three children traveling in three different vehicles that were stalled in deep water at the intersection. Again, no injuries were reported. 

The storm also toppled several trees in the area. Two trees fell in Guadalajara and 22 went down in Zapopan, where wind gusts reached 82 kilometers per hour. 

Source: Milenio (sp), El Informador (sp), Heraldo de México (sp)

Company owned by son of CFE chief fined over defective, costly ventilators

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León Manuel Bartlett, owner of Cyber Robotics Solutions.
León Manuel Bartlett, owner of Cyber Robotics Solutions.

The federal government has sanctioned Cyber ​​Robotics Solutions, a company owned by the son of the director of the Federal Electricity Commission, for selling defective and over-priced coronavirus ventilators.

The Ministry of Public Administration (SFP) announced sanctions against the firm owned by León Manuel Bartlett Álvarez, the son of Manuel Bartlett. 

The company has been prohibited from winning government contracts for 27 months and has been fined 2 million pesos, nearly US $90,000. 

“During the old regime, not even the most wasteful cases of embezzlement were punished. Today, in strict adherence to legality and guaranteeing due process, the government acts and sanctions all infractions,” SFP head Irma Eréndira Sandoval said yesterday on Twitter.

On April 17, Cyber Robotics Solutions was awarded a 31-million-peso (US $1.3-million) contract to provide 20 ventilators to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in Hidalgo. Each device cost the health service 1.55 million pesos, or US $65,000.

Nepotism was suspected from the outset due to the position held by Bartlett’s father, and in May an investigation by Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) found that Cyber Robotics’ ventilators came in at 85% more expensive than the cheapest models previously purchased by the government. The SFP said that Bartlett’s price was “outside the range of the market.”

Bartlett Jr. justified the ventilators’ elevated cost at the time by citing the health emergency generated by the coronavirus crisis and the specialized nature of the machines his company was producing.

In its report, the SFP discarded that excuse and also charged that Bartlett did not abide by the terms of the contract. 

“Not a single one of the 20 pieces of equipment delivered complied with the contracted technical specifications. The ventilators delivered were old, used and in poor condition. Eleven were broken and totally unusable, as the IMSS itself now recognizes,” the SFP stated, adding that Bartlett knowingly provided false information about the ventilators’ immediate availability.

On orders of the SFP after an inspection of the ventilators, IMSS ended up returning the equipment to Cyber Robotics in mid-May and none of the ventilators was ever used.

Four IMSS officials in Hidalgo were suspended later that month in connection with their role in the purchase.

“Throughout the pandemic, more than 2,000 contracting processes in the health sector have been reviewed and this scrupulous review will continue to ensure that the emergency is not used as a pretext to cover up embezzlement,” the SFP said.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Animal Político (sp), Proceso (sp)

Turtle protection measures stepped up in Yucatán

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Signs advise visitors of the presence of turtles.
Signs advise visitors of the presence of turtles.

Mexico’s environmental protection agency, Profepa, in coordination with the Yucatán Ministry for Sustainable Development and members of sea turtle conservation organizations have stepped up measures to protect endangered turtle species.

Nesting season is well underway and with the end of coronavirus lockdown beach activities are on the rise. It is estimated that some 15,000 people visited beaches in Yucatán last weekend alone and the increase in traffic puts the sea turtle’s survival at risk.

At the end of June, surveillance tours were carried out along the coastline near the Progreso-Telchac Puerto highway. Four signs were posted to make visitors to the area’s beaches aware that turtles and their eggs could be present and the need to respect their habitat and avoid damaging or disturbing their nests. 

The move comes after conservation agencies reported that some nests in Dzilam de Bravo, Telchac Puerto and Sisal had been looted of their eggs. The hawksbill, white, loggerhead and leatherback species of sea turtle dig nests on the beaches during their breeding season, which lasts from March through October. 

Since 2017, Profepa has installed more than 30 wooden barriers to prevent people from driving cars and ATVs along the sand and crushing nests in an effort to preserve the species’ habitat.

Sea turtles take decades to reach sexual maturity and lay 50 to 350 eggs in nests that are 40 to 50 centimeters deep that the mothers camouflage to protect them from predators. Baby turtles incubate for 40 to 50 days before emerging and making their mad dash back to the sea.  

Predators are many, including humans who poach their meat and eggs which are thought to have aphrodisiacal properties. Scientists estimate that only a tiny percentage of baby sea turtles survive to adulthood.

Source: La Jornada (sp), Diario de Yucatán (sp), Libertad de Expresion Yucatán (sp)

Downward trend continues in Mexico City coronavirus cases: minister

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Accumulated coronavirus cases in Mexico as of Monday.
Accumulated coronavirus cases in Mexico as of Monday. milenio

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell reiterated Monday night that Covid-19 case numbers are on the wane in Mexico City, the country’s coronavirus epicenter.

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s coronavirus press briefing, López-Gatell said that case numbers have been declining in the capital since the week starting May 31.

He also said that the number of coronavirus patients admitted to hospital and deaths from Covid-19 have begun to decline.

“The number of daily deaths … in Mexico City is decreasing: they’ve been progressively and continuously decreasing in the past 15 days,” López-Gatell said.

The capital has recorded 56,876 confirmed coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic, of which 3,867 are considered active. It has also recorded 7,053 confirmed Covid-19 deaths.

The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths
The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico. Deaths are numbers reported and not necessarily those that occurred each day. milenio

The sprawling, densely populated eastern borough of Iztapalapa has recorded the highest incidence of confirmed cases in Mexico City followed by Gustavo A. Madero and Tlalpan. Cuajimalpa and Benito Juárez have seen the fewest cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

López-Gatell also reported that Mexico’s case tally had increased to 261,750 with 4,902 new cases registered by the Health Ministry on Monday. The national Covid-19 death tally rose to 31,119 with 480 additional fatalities.

Just under 10% of the total confirmed cases – 25,805 – are considered active while there are 73,035 suspected cases across the country.

Federal data shows that the positivity rate for the almost 580,000 Covid-19 tests whose results are known is 45.2%.

The positivity rate is much higher than most other countries because Mexico is focusing its testing efforts on people who have coronavirus-like symptoms.

After Mexico City, México state has recorded the highest number of accumulated cases, with 38,201. Only three other states have recorded more than 10,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. They are Tabasco, Puebla and Veracruz.

The only state to have recorded fewer than 1,000 cases is Colima, where 715 people have tested positive.

México state also has the second largest active outbreak in the country, with 2,157 cases as of Monday.

Seven states currently have more than 1,000 active cases. They are Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Tabasco, Veracruz, Coahuila, Yucatán and Jalisco.

Five states currently have fewer than 250 active cases, according to official data. They are Chihuahua, Colima, Morelos, Aguascalientes and Campeche.

At the municipal level, Puebla city has the largest active outbreak, with 838 cases, followed by León, Guanajuato; Mérida, Yucatán; Centro (Villahermosa), Tabasco; and Monterrey, Nuevo León.

After Mexico City, México state has the highest official Covid-19 death toll in the country, with 4,754 confirmed fatalities.

Baja California is the only other state to have recorded more than 2,000 fatalities, while more than 1,000 people have died from Covid-19 in each of Veracruz, Puebla, Sinaloa and Tabasco.

Among municipalities, Iztapalapa has the highest death toll in the country with 1,205 Covid-19 fatalities, followed by Gustavo A. Madero; Mexicali, Baja California; Tijuana, Baja California; and Puebla city.

Mexico’s fatality rate is 11.9 per 100 confirmed cases, well above the global rate of 4.6.

National data shows that 45% of general care hospital beds set aside for coronavirus patients are currently occupied while 38% of those with ventilators are in use.

About three in 10 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have required hospital treatment while just over 70% had less serious symptoms and were not admitted to the hospital.

The Health Ministry estimates that almost 160,000 people in Mexico have fully recovered from Covid-19, which has claimed the lives of almost 540,000 people around the world as of Tuesday morning.

Source: Milenio (sp), La Jornada (sp) 

Cancún has welcomed 70,000 tourists since reopening

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Travelers arriving in Cancún.
Travelers arriving in Cancún.

Almost 70,000 tourists have visited Cancún since the Caribbean coast resort city reopened for tourism almost a month ago but hotel occupancy levels remain low.

Municipal tourism official Francisco López said that approximately 13,000 visitors are currently staying at the 120 hotels that have reopened at 30% capacity since June 8, the date from which tourism activities were allowed to resume despite the coronavirus pandemic.

He said that tourist numbers are expected to grow as air connectivity to Cancún increases and more hotels open. López said that there is confidence that occupancy levels can rise to 50% in the second half of the year.

The Hotel Association of Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres (AHCPM) said the average occupancy rate over the past month in the approximately 6,500 hotel rooms currently open has been less than 20%.

In addition to the more than 14,000 rooms currently closed in the hotels that have resumed operations, 74 hotels with more than 17,600 rooms have not yet welcomed back guests.

The AHCPM said in a statement that all the hotels that have reopened are following strict health and hygiene protocols to protect both guests and their employees from the risk of coronavirus infection.

While flights to Cancún from both domestic and international destinations are still below pre-pandemic levels, air traffic at the city’s airport has recently increased.

About 150 flights landed and took off on both Saturday and Sunday, airport authorities said. Among the international destinations with connections to Cancún are the U.S. cities of Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Baltimore, Charlotte, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas, and Montreal, Canada.

Unlike many other countries, Mexico hasn’t restricted the arrival of airline passengers during the pandemic nor has it stipulated that they go into mandatory quarantine.

Tourists who have recently flown into Cancún to stay at hotels have been able to access the city’s famous beaches but local residents are currently being denied entry though the coastline is public, according to the Mexican constitution.

AHCPM president Roberto Cintrón Gómez defended the move to open beaches only to tourists on the grounds that it is only a temporary measure and one that is needed to decrease the risk of coronavirus infection.

“We’ve fought so that visitors can have access to the beaches, with certain restrictions. … The few tourists [in Cancún] are taking a risk by going on vacation but they come for the beach and we must keep that in mind,” he said.

Less happy about the tourist-only access to beaches is President López Obrador, who said that he would ask Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco to seek clarification about why the general public was being denied entry.

Quintana Roo, the state where Cancún is located, has recorded 4,245 confirmed coronavirus cases, of which 806 are considered active, according to federal government data.

More than half of the state’s cases – 2,404 – were detected in the municipality of Benito Juárez (Cancún), while neighboring Solidaridad, home to Playa del Carmen, has recorded 617.

Tulum, another popular tourist destination in Quintana Roo, has recorded just 70 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

Source: El Economista (sp)

3 more destinations get tourism council’s Safe Travels seal

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The city of Guanajuato: safe for travelers.
The city of Guanajuato: safe for travelers.

Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Oaxaca are the latest recipients of a new international tourism industry rating that reflects shifting priorities for travelers in what’s often dubbed Covid-19’s “new normal” — namely those of health safety.

The three states have been awarded the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Safe Travels seal, joining a list of tourism destinations in which hospitality companies are conforming to new hygiene and sanitization standards based on recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

The seal is intened to show that destinations are complying with strict hygiene and sanitization standards, which the organization says are meant to give travelers’ faith in the safety of hotels, restaurants, cruises, and other hospitality offerings.

“Ultimately, we envision a future of travel which is safe, secure, seamless, and provides an authentic and meaningful experience to the traveler across the journey,” the WTTC says on its website. “The specially designed stamp will allow travelers and other travel and tourism stakeholders to recognize destination authorities and companies around the world that have implemented health and hygiene protocols that are aligned with WTTC’s Safe Travels protocols.”

Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez told the Mexican travel publication Expreso that his state was very pleased to be part of the worldwide movement.

“We are committed to taking the necessary steps to restore tourists’ confidence.”

Michoacán governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo added that with tourism being an “essential pillar to the state’s economic growth,” industry and government leaders should be united in designing responsible programs for recuperation of the travel and tourism sector.

The WTTC, which represents the private travel and tourism sector internationally, counts among its board members leaders and executives from companies such as Hilton, Carnival Corporation, Alibaba Group, American Express, and Expedia. It was founded in the 1980s to raise the profile of the travel and tourism industry. 

According to the organization’s website, to join the Safe Travels program and be allowed to use the seal on their website and promotional materials applicants must develop hygiene and sanitization protocols in accordance with WTTC guidelines and submit them to the organization for validation. Only after their protocols are approved can they begin to use the seal. 

Already part of the program in Mexico are Baja California Sur, Cancún, the Mexican Caribbean, Cozumel, Jalisco, the Riviera Nayarit and Yucatán.

Sources: Expreso (sp)