Getting To Know Guatemala
The Guatemala Tourism Institute’s (INGUAT) Claudia Lorena Alvarado Castillo – along with 11 suppliers of Guatemala tourism products – were in Toronto on July 30 as part of a multi-city North American tour designed to educated the travel trade on all that the destination has to offer.
Alvarado took her Toronto audience on a verbal and visual tour of Guatemala and its 1,000 years of history, its culture, natural wonders and lots more during her presentation.
Dubbed the Land of Eternal Spring with its average daily temperature of 22 degrees, Guatemala is home to three UNESCO sites, it has two international airports, two cruises ports and a good ground transportation infrastructure in place.
INGUAT’s Alvarado offered four reasons to agents on why their clients should visit Guatemala. These included the fact that is is the Heart of the Mayan World, with some 3,000 archaeological sites; it has seven tourism regions, each one offering the visitor a different experience; it is a destination that offers its visitors both life lessons and unique experiences; and for travel trade types, its tourism product features a “competitive relationship between price and quality.”
Guatemala’s top five attractions include Guatemala City, Antigua, Tikal, Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan.
The Central America destination is certainly attracting a lot of attention these days. It welcomed two million visitors in 2013 and during the first four months of 2014, it has seen its arrivals grow by 26%, with tourism officials pointing to a number of initiatives that have been taken to showcase Guatemala’s natural and cultural wonders.
Pedro Duchez, director of INGUAT, observed: “Due to our unique bio geographical position, the beauty of our traditions and the richness of our history, we have the potential to become a key player in global travel. We have comprehensive and exciting programs in place for this year and we hope to continue this positive trend.”
The opportunity is certainly there as Guatemala will host TravelMart LatinAmerica from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25, 2015 at the COPEREX Fairground Complex in Guatemala City. Tourism officials are clearly excited about the prospect of welcoming over a thousand members of the global travel industry and recognizing that the event will make both a short- and long-term impact on the country’s economy.
For more on Guatemala, go to http://www.visitguatemala.com .
Photo Caption:
The Guatemala Tourism Institute’s (INGUAT) Claudia Lorena Alvarado Castillo, along with a group of 11 suppliers of Guatemala tourism products, pose for a photo during a travel agent workshop in Toronto on July 30.
