Alberto Rubio
Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco, yesterday underlined his intention to meet with Spanish tour operators specialising in railway packages to promote the Mayan Train, his country’s main offer at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur), which opens tomorrow in Madrid.
Torruco explained during a press conference that the 1,554 kilometres that the Mayan Train will cover will be fully operational in March of this year. So far, two sections have been opened: the one connecting Campeche with Cancún via Mérida and the one linking Cancún with Palenque. The Cancún-Tulum section will be inaugurated on 29 February and the section connecting Tulum with Escárcega in March.
The train, manufactured in Mexico with French technology, “is equivalent to a Lisbon-Paris, with 32 stations, 14 of which are for the local population”, Torruco added.
According to the Mexican Tourism Secretary, this project is intended to be a “tool for social reconciliation” because, in addition to opening up areas of the country that are not very accessible to tourism, it will allow the population of the area to move around, since 14 of its 32 stations will be dedicated to local connections. Torruco described it as “a mean of transport for all tastes”, specifying that four types of trains will run on the line: one for the local population, one for freight, one “regular tourist” and one more “luxury”.
On the other hand, Torruco showed his interest in finding businessmen to take advantage of the opportunities of another great railway project of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government, the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT), which was inaugurated in December and covers the route from Salina Cruz to Coatzacoalcos. The Mexican tourism official described it as a “strategic bridge to link two oceans” with the aim of competing with the Panama Canal. According to him, “this train will save six hours” to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Finally, Torruco underlined the Mexican government’s objective of recovering Acapulco, after the disaster caused by hurricane ‘Otis’, which in October caused the death of 50 people and destroyed nearly 250,000 homes.
Tourism in Mexico has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with the arrival of 33 million international tourists in 2023, of which 400,000 were Spanish (the fifth largest source country to the North American country). The minister pointed out that in 2024 the number of foreign visitors is expected to rise to 42 million. However, he added that “it is not so much the number of travellers that is important as the average expenditure” they make during their stay, which in 2023 amounted to 1,164 dollars per person.
