Puerto Vallarta to host Mexico’s tourism conference

Meeting place: the Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center will host Mexico’s tourism conference this year.

By Mark Chesnut

For nearly four decades, Mexico’s top tourism officials, hoteliers and tour operators descended on the city of Acapulco once a year to network and share news about Mexico hotels, leisure and business travel and how to boost sales. The event is called Tianguis Turistico, which translates roughly as ” tourism marketplace.” But this year, for the first time in the event’s 37-year history, it will take place in Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit.

Slated for March 25-28, the event will attract hundreds of travel industry insiders from Mexico and abroad, including Mexico’s tourism minister, Gloria Guevara.

This year’s event will give participants an opportunity to experience hotels, attractions and activities in both Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarat, a hotel and tourism region that stretches for 180 miles along the coast just north of Puerto Vallarta, and includes the resort areas called Punta Mita and Nuevo Vallarta.  Much of the business will take place at the Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center, built in 2009, which has more than 63,000 square feet of meeting space and covers more than 42 acres.

Among the activities planned are Restaurant Week 2012 Tianguis Edition, which will provide an overview of the destination’s cuisine at special, discounted prices. Golf fans can participate in two tournaments at El Tigre Golf and Country Club in Riviera Nayarit and Vista Vallarta Golf Club in Puerto Vallarta.

From now on, according to tourism officials, the Tianguis conference will take place in a different Mexican destination every year. Future sites include Puebla, Cancun and the Riviera Maya.

Related resources

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Mark Chesnut is a freelance travel writer, editor and publisher of LatinFlyer.com, which focuses on travel to Latin America. He’ll be reporting directly from Tianguis during the event.

Tagged: Mexico