Guatemala exposes its offer for meeting tourism

Guatemala City and Antigua Guatemala were chosen for the development of two large events that showed that the country has the infrastructure and services for the tourism segment of meetings.

In Guatemala City, the ICCA Guatemala Summit was held, an activity that sought to bring together members of the tourism sector such as: hoteliers, tour operators, unions, associations, among others, to share knowledge from international experts on the importance of the sector, trends and opportunities to attract events to the country.

This activity included the participation of Andrés Escandón, Regional Director of ICCA Latin America, who was accompanied by experts from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Colombia.

At the same time, the colonial city of La Antigua Guatemala hosted the first Forbes forum in Spanish, where international and Guatemalan business leaders participated in different conferences and panels where topics on the economy, climate change, business future, among others, were discussed. .

The inauguration of this forum included the participation of the President of the Republic of Guatemala, Dr. Alejandro Giammattei and the president of Forbes en Español, Mariano Menéndez.

For the Guatemalan Tourism Institute, it is important that the country be taken into account for the development of large meetings, congresses, forums and more, which contributes to the revitalization of the marketing chain of the meetings and tourism industry in general.

The General Director of INGUAT, Anayansy Rodríguez expressed “The impact of the meetings industry covers the event venue, the tour operator who must coordinate the logistics to be able to transport the participants from one point to another, the carrier that provides their service, In addition to restaurants, to places of interest such as shops, among others.”

According to ICCA, in business tourism, 46 percent of international tourists who participate in activities return to the destination for vacation, so it is expected that both events held in the country will result in future visits to tourist attractions. of Guatemala and therefore in economic development of those who live around tourism.

Guatemala offers the ideal conditions for carrying out meeting tourism, with infrastructure and services, which, combined with the multicultural character, geographical position, connectivity, quality of service and, above all, the value it provides for the resource invested versus the price offered, make the country have enormous potential for this segment.