At the beginning of May, Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, made a 4-hour visit to Belize.
He was on a tour of Central America and Cuba, and during his brief trip to Belize, he announced that the Mexican government would waive a cross section of tariffs which would allow Belizean exports to enter their markets without the burden of those entry taxes.
And, tonight, Mexico's Tourism Minister, Miguel Turruco Marques, is on an official visit to Belize. He and an entourage of VIPs within the public and private sectors of Mexico's tourism industry have been meeting with strategic officials within the Belizean Government. They are engaging in initial talks on bilateral agreements which are contemplated to deepen cooperation in tourism between the neighboring countries.
This afternoon, the Mexican delegation hosted a press conference at the Biltmore, and 7News was there. Here's what members of the head table had to say about their visit and its purpose:
Miguel Turruco Marques - Mexican Secretary of Tourism
"This time we came because we believe that in order to increase our relationship between our both countries are just acting, not just making a political speech. And I'm very glad to be here. We had the opportunity to meet both Ministers of tourism and Transportation, Anthony and also Rodwell, and we already are working on an agreement between our two ministries of tourism in order to keep following different kinds of issues. The first thing that we are going to do is that we are going to start working in the training and education field. This morning we had a very important meeting with the tourism industry and we spoke about the new projects that we have done in Mexico and what we did in order to improve during the pandemic. For this year, we are expecting to receive 42.3 million tourists in Mexico. But it is something that is going to be very important, is that we are going to have a $25.3 billion, 2.5%, more than in 2019. So we are back on track."
Humberto Hernandez - Mexican Vice-Secretary of Tourism
"The joint cooperation of Belize and Mexico needs the ministries and agencies on both sides of the border to fix key questions, to make sure that tourists are traveling safely, and efficiently, and most of all, helping to improve the productivity and the economy, the economy of our two countries."
Andres G Aguilar - Vice-Secretary of Tourism, State of Quintana Roo
"In Quintana Roo, we want a responsible traveler. We want a fair market that involves, of course, all the communities."
