Acapulco Trade Fair Opens in Mexico City
(Mexico City, NA 25 June) Acapulco’s annual trade fair for tourism professionals and the public in Mexico City is called the “Acapulcazo” (Big Acapulco), and the 2011 event is living up to its heritage. The three-day event attracts travel agencies, tourism specialists and transportation companies from all over Mexico to learn what is happening in Acapulco and to celebrate Mexico’s oldest resort city. This year the event was opened by Mayor Manuel Añorve Baños, with many dignitaries present from the nation’s capital, including the governor of the Federal District, Marcelo Ebrard, who is a frontrunner for the PRD nomination for the presidency in 2012. The event is being held in the World Trade Center of Mexico City.
More than 100 promotional stands, representing Acapulco tourism businesses and transportation companies, were opened to greet visitors to the trade show, including the general public. The city government was able to provide 24 stands to members of the tourism sector who were otherwise unable to acquire space in the event, so that they could participate in the marketing effort.
The ribbon cutting ceremony also included the State Secretary of Tourism Promotion, Graciela Báez and the Federal District’s Tourism Secretary, Alejandro Rojas Díaz Durán, who has been supportive of Acapulco’s efforts to bring the controversial Tianguis Turístico back to its home city. More than 20,000 persons are expected to attend the weekend-long event.
In expressing his support of the Tianguis Turístico, and speaking on behalf of the Governor of the Federal District, Alejandro Rojas Díaz Durán said that taking the event away is like taking the heart out of Acapulco. “We all know that Acapulco is the heart of tourism in this country… They are mistaken those who say that to take away an event of this kind will not have any [negative] effect.”
Accompanying Acapulco’s mayor in the event were representatives from Barra Vieja, Puerto Marqués, Bonfil, Pie de la Cuesta, Caleta & Caletilla, Laguna de Coyuca, Laguna de Tres Palos and La Quebrada. Servicios Náuticos, Deportes Acuáticos and the San Diego Fort were also present.