A record number of Jalisco-based companies will participate in next month’s Tianguis Turistico – the country’s premier tourism fair that is being hosted by Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit for the first time.
Tourism chiefs are expecting twice as many visitors at this year’s event, which has been held in the Pacific resort of Acapulo for the past 24 years.
More than 140 Jalisco firms will join around 500 national and international exhibitors looking to sell their products and services to the 1,500 domestic and overseas tourism wholesalers and buyers expected to attend the trade show from March 25-28. In addition, the fair (and Vallarta) will get plenty of media coverage, with 200 specialist journalists, many of them from abroad, expected to attend.
Expositors will use more than 23,000 square meters of Vallarta’s convention center – an increase of 67 percent compared with last year’s event in Acapulco.The Jalisco and Nayarit state governments are plowing 65 million pesos (five million dollars) into the event, while a similar amount will come from federal coffers. A large portion of the money will be used to improve access to the convention center, located to one side of El Salado wetland.
The fair will benefit the area to the tune of 120 million pesos, according to Jalisco Tourism Secretary Aurelio Lopez Rocha.
Dreams Resorts & Spas is set to open two new hotels in Vallarta just prior to the event, and a group of 60 hoteliers is offering 50 percent discounts during the Tianguis.
A interactive website that allows buyers to quickly make appointments with providers will be a new feature of the Tianguis.
Additional events include a golf tournament featuring Mexico’s former world number one Lorena Ochoa, a “haute cuisine” gastronomic zone, firework displays, cultural performances and regattas.
Governor Emilio Gonzalez said the Tianguis will serve as yet another opportunity to show that Jalisco can organize world-class events.
The Tianguis Turistico is rated on a par with other prestigious tourism fairs in the world such as Fitur in Madrid and SITV in Montreal.