 | Posted by Jennifer Reilly at 6/14/2012 10:13 AM EDT |
I recently returned from a dizzyingly informative few days at the WTTC Americas Summit in Mexico. At this first-ever regional meeting, Mexican President Calderón, tourism ministers, travel company leaders, and luminaries like Mexican businessman and philanthropist Carlos Slim gathered in the Riviera Maya to discuss how important travel and tourism is as a global industry. (According to the WTTC, tourism currently constitutes 9% of the world’s GDP and sustains 255 million jobs.)
My main takeaway from the conference, however, was that the Riviera Maya, a coastal region in the Yucatán Peninsula that stretches from 20 miles south of Cancún in Puerto Morelos to Punta Allen, a village within the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, is an incredible place to visit. From show-stopping performances at the archaeological park Xcaret to the laid-back beach town of Playa del Carmen, the region packs in a lot to see and do—it’s no surprise, then, that it’s one of the most popular regions in Mexico for foreign travelers. (A record-breaking 3.6 million people visited the Riviera Maya in 2011.)
A performance at Xcaret
Originally posted by Jennifer Reilly
