Queen Sofia of Spain visited the office of Mexico in the 31st edition of the International Tourism Fair of Madrid (FITUR 2011), held from 19 to 23 January in the capital and brings together representatives of 166 countries. Mexican Secretary of Tourism, Gloria Guevara, Mexico’s ambassador in Spain, Jorge Zermeno, the queen received in the enclosure that houses ‘stands’ of nearly all state governments, airlines, tour operators, hotels and other entities private. Mexico is developing a promotion on its 10 tourist routes covering the 32 states of the country and include points of interest that have dining experiences, cultural, adventure, sun and sand.
The position of Mexico has more than one thousand square meters of hall four of the Parque Ferial Juan Carlos I in Madrid, where he conducted tastings, games and performances of mariachi. For several minutes, Queen Sofia became interested in Mexico’s participation in the Fair, mariachi music, dancers with pre-Hispanic and folkloric costumes, especially the colorful stands.
The Mexican delegation to the queen gave different gifts, like a shawl, a book about Mexico City, an exhibition of Huichol handicrafts, a set of medals commemorating the bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico and a bottle of tequila. In the company of Guevara and the ambassador was the governor of Jalisco, Emilio Gonzalez, the director of the Tourism Board of Mexico, Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, Secretary of Tourism of Mexico City, Alejandro Rojas Diaz Duran, and representatives of other state and companies involved.
Before the visit, Queen Sofia opened FITUR 2011, which is the second largest sector in the world and the first from Latin America. In this edition, the exhibition brings together institutions promoters, operators, hotels, travel agencies, consultants and experts in general management and international tourism development.