Guatemala lands in Fitur 2023 with its Mayan culture

Sacred Mayan temples, ancient traditions, religion, coffee and adventure. This is Guatemala’s letter of recommendation this year at Fitur, where it lands as a partner country for the event. under the motto Amazing and unstoppable Guatemalathe Central American country aims to take advantage of this international fair to attract tourists from Europe, the US, Canada and the Middle East and to set up the recovery of the sector in the coming months.

Therefore, it bets on adventure and nature tourism, with a special presence indigenous communities of the country. “We focus on projecting that Guatemala is a culture,” José Basilo, Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Guatemala in the United Arab Emirates, explains to RTVE.es. In addition, he adds that “coming to Fitur is also important in order to communicate with the private sector, with hoteliers and wholesalers and work together to restore tourism in our country.”

“It is very important for Guatemala to participate in fairs like this because it helps the government to promote itself as a country“, Bassila tells us. He reminds us that this is the first time that the country participates in an event of this level, and this was one of the objectives of the current president, Alejandro Jamatei, who attended Ifema together with members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and Economy, among others.

Fitur celebrates its 43rd edition with 8,500 companies from 131 countries and a strong international presence that has grown, especially in the case of Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, as Javier Sánchez-Prieta, president of Iberia, has already emphasized in the presentation of the event and the Fitur organizing committee.

Mayan and indigenous traditions and adventure tourism

Although Guatemala is divided into different destinations and regions, Basilo tells us that tourism is the leader adventurous and one of cultures. Just as there are destinations marketed for their beaches and forests,Guatemala is the capital of the Mayan world“and this has become his trademark, as the adviser points out. But it not only emphasizes the pre-Hispanic heritage left by peoples thousands of years ago, but also Cultural roots rank and file they are still alive today: “We have 23 indigenous communities that continue their traditions, instilling Mayan and Garifuna cultures [descendientes de africanos y aborígenes caribes y arahuacos]And we consider it very important.”

This is just one of its attractions booth A feature where a group of people receive visitors in typical clothing folklore the country is traditional. One of them is Juan Manuel, who wears a Chichicastenang Brotherhood Costume, a municipality in the southwest of the country, whose population is predominantly indigenous. “Our clothes are based on mirrors, bird feathers and ornaments that imitate gold. These are clothes that travel through time and come from our ancestors,” he tells us. Thus, Guatemala intends to convey to Fitur its mixture between ancestral culture and religion.

A group of people wear typical costumes of traditional Guatemalan folklore. RUTH DRAKE

The Central American country comes with another major attraction for the coming months, Big week in Guatemaladeclared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in November 2022. “Thanks to the blending of Spanish and indigenous cultures, there is a lot of passion for Guatemalan processionswhere colored sawdust carpets were built and which won international awards,” Basila explains to us. These colors he mentions are exactly the colors that cover his space at Fitur.

Gastronomy, coffee and elite tourism

Its other mainstays, also present at the fair, are: gastronomy, liquors and coffee, as the country has eight different varieties in all regions. “We make some of the best coffee in the world, and there will be tastings and baristas,” Basila tells us.

In addition, it is also being promoted as a destination language tourism. “Guatemala is known in Latin America for its Spanish schools because we have a relatively neutral accent,” says the adviser, who also notes that its recent popularity as destination weddingespecially in such natural areas as Lake Atitlan, of volcanic origin, and in the southwest of the country.

Similarly, he explains that part of the road to recovery is focused on promoting these two modalities, but they also saw a new niche: offering luxury tourism for customers looking for hotels and tours of higher quality and value.

Get the numbers before the pandemic

In 2022, Guatemala received about 1,850,000 touriststhe figure is still below the two and a half million the country has received in normal, non-pandemic situations, Basila tells us.

“We managed to reach 72% of the total tourism figures we collected in 2019,” he emphasizes, so now they are focusing their efforts on building this path to recovery. “It is very important for us because this sector accounts for one of the highest percentages of our GDP,” explains the councilor, who admits that They hope to surpass the indicators of 2019to the pandemic, and that Fitur is a very useful international showcase to achieve this goal.

What kind of average tourist usually visits the country?

The most typical tourist visiting Guatemala comes from your neighboring country, Saviorand spends an average of about 120 dollars a day, which totals about $27 million. “It depends on the year, but more than 50% of our tourists come from El Salvador because of the proximity,” he explains, “although recently the government has been focusing on attracting travelers from the United States, Mexico and Canada.”

“For a long time, our tourism has consisted of young travelers who go to cheaper hotels and don’t spend much in the country,” Basila explains, so the government has tried look for a richer profile and “a tourist who shops more and supports local communities.”

Attract travelers from Europe and the Middle East

So Guatemala decided to expand its target market and directs its strategy to Europe to attract tourists from Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, though the main one is Spain. “It’s a natural market for language and connections as our flights to Europe are direct through Madrid,” says Basilo.

““Since last year, the focus has been on Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar”“

Another of his goals Middle Eastin particular Israeland “since last year the main focus is on Persian Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” the adviser tells us. Although Guatemala did not participate in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Basila notes that it has campaigned to promote tourism in commercial centers of Doha.Now they promote various cultural activities in Abu Dhabi I Dubai and they hope to start more in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s largest city.

With all this, Guatemala intends to connect its country with the rest of the world in the face of several high seasons for the country, which begin this Holy Week and continue into the summer months. “We know there will be very positive results,” explains the consultant, who has a favorable prognosis: “We hope that our participation in Fitur is the culmination of recent yearsbut also the beginning of a new opportunity to position Guatemala as it is: amazing and unstoppable.”

.