At the 46th annual Tianguis Turístico Mexico, which recently concluded in Acapulco, the highest award in Mexican tourism - a kind of Mexican "tourism Oscar" - was presented to Armina Wolpert, founder and CEO of Arminas Travel
Armina Wolpert shares his thoughts on the challenges and hopes of global tourism. The world is undergoing a huge transformation. The economic and political order has shifted like a tectonic plate after an earthquake. Tourism, as always, is the most vulnerable, as its successful development is possible only in peacetime.
Today, millions of people are faced with a situation where their life projects have collapsed or been significantly slowed down. Among them are a huge number of colleagues in the travel industry.
I have always been impressed by their incredible efficiency, ingenuity, even cunning in solving unsolvable problems, finding new forms when geography or politics change - all of this certainly commands respect and admiration.
Covid was an incredible challenge and test of strength for everyone, including me. But fortunately, we were lucky: Mexico has chosen the path of open doors, zero restrictions for visiting the country, combined with a gentle but safe service format. All of this allowed us, one of the few countries, to accept clients all over the country and feel the sweetness of the workload before anyone else. It was very satisfying.
In addition to the dramatic change in the lives of half of my colleagues, there were also economic and political reasons: American intermediary banks refused to accept the money, and our president was not very clear about his position on the situation.
The market reacted immediately and harshly. But after a while, it began to look for ways to survive.
The regrouping of fellow operators, their relocation to other countries, sometimes even with their clients, opening accounts in other countries - all this allows us to be optimistic about the future and believe that people will definitely return to traveling as soon as they have the opportunity.
Mexico continues to thrive: in tourist terms, at the recent Tianguis Turístico Mexico trade fair, our Minister of Tourism Miguel Torruco said that in 2021 Mexico ranked second in terms of global tourist arrivals, and in the first months of 2022 it was third.
At the same time, the largest number of airplanes now arrive at Cancun airport (sometimes more than 600 operations per day).
There is also a convenient air travel scheme: Turkish Airline flies to Mexico daily.
