- At FITUR 2025, Mara Lezama participates in the Forum “Connecting Opportunities in the Tourism Sector” organized by BBVA before executives of the banking firm and Spanish businessmen
- With the New Era of Tourism, we achieve global projection, historical records, diversification and shared prosperity: Mara Lezama
- Josefina Rodríguez, head of Sectur, highlighted the Maya Kaan model as an example of inclusive and sustainable development led by Mayan communities
Madrid.- By participating in the panel “The new era of the Mexican tourism sector”, organized within the Forum “Connecting Opportunities in the Tourism Sector” of BBVA within the framework of FITUR 2025, Governor Mara Lezama highlighted that the New Era of the Tourism ratifies the leadership of the Mexican Caribbean as a leading destination with economic diversification, global projection and where success is reflected in the prosperity of homes.
The governor and the forum participants were welcomed by the Country Manager of BBVA in Spain, Peio Belausteguigoitia, the Country Manager of BBVA in Mexico, Eduardo Osuna, and the Chief Economist of the BBVA Group and Director of BBVA Research, Jorge Sicilia.
Also present were Josefina Rodríguez, Secretary of Tourism of Mexico (Sectur); Altagracia Gómez, president of the Regional Economic Development and Relocation Council, and Quirino Ordaz Ambassador of Mexico to Spain.
Eduardo Osuna, Country Manager of BBVA in Mexico, initial speaker presented Quintana Roo as an attractive destination for private investments, which seek to align with principles of sustainability and social responsibility.
For her part, Josefina Rodríguez, head of Sectur, mentioned the goals for 2025, where she highlighted a projection of a 200% increase in foreign passengers with the consolidation of the Mayan Train. Josefina highlighted the Maya Kaan tourism management model where the protagonists of tourism are the Mayan communities with inclusive development.
During her intervention as a panelist, Governor Mara Lezama mentioned that this year, Quintana Roo surpassed record numbers: 32 million passengers at the state’s four international airports. Particularly, the Tulum International Airport registered more than one million passengers before completing its first year of operations. In addition, 21 million tourists were received in the 12 tourist destinations of the Mexican Caribbean
“Our hotel offering includes 135,000 rooms and continues to grow thanks to the support of entrepreneurs who continue to invest in this fertile land, full of hard-working and good people. The average occupancy reaches 75%, and we have received 7 million cruise passengers, with more than 1,500 cruises arriving in Cozumel and Costa Maya,” Mara Lezama highlighted before representatives of governments, Spanish businessmen and civil society organizations, with the purpose of analyze the challenges and opportunities that Mexico offers in the tourism field at a national and international level.
“If Quintana Roo were a country, it would be in 16th place among the most visited destinations in the world. This is the great contribution of our state to Mexico and it fills us with pride,” he said.
Mara Lezama shared the implementation of the new development model that not only promotes economic growth through the Sustainable Tourism Master Plan and the New Agreement for the Well-being and Development of Quintana Roo.
“We are living in a New Era of Tourism, this model not only focuses on sun and sand, we are much more than that. Community rural tourism with Maya Ka’an, a reference for social and environmental justice in a polygon of one million hectares and the promotion of gastronomy with the incorporation of the state to the Michelin Guide and the promotion of the sector, where the protagonists are our indigenous Mayans, the waitress, the waiter, the kitchen assistant, that is to say that this prosperity is reflected on the tables of the homes,” he explained.
Present with the governor of Quintana Roo were the municipal presidents of Benito Juárez, Ana Paty Peralta de la Peña; from Puerto Morelos, Blanca Merari Tziu Muñoz, and from Isla Mujeres, Atenea Gómez Ricalde; the Secretary of Tourism, Bernardo Cueto Riestra, and the director of the CPTQ, Andrés Martínez Reynoso, as well as Senator Eugenio Segura.
