Madrid, 19th January 2023.

Within the framework of the 2023 edition of Fitur, the Madrid International Tourism Fair, the Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico, Miguel Torruco Marqués, has received recognition from Queer Destinations for his involvement, participation, responsibility, and development in the first National LGBTQ+ Tourism Strategy. The recognition has been presented by the founder of Queer Destinations, Oriol Pàmies, as an appreciation for the effort made to encourage different destinations in Mexico to commit to the LGBTQ+ community through training, awareness, safety, quality standards, and excellence. Values that Queer Destinations represents.

In February 2019, SECTUR signed an alliance with Queer Destinations together with the IGLTA (the International LGBTQ+ Tourism Association) with the aim of aligning a National LGBTQ+ Tourism Strategy that would serve adequately, respectfully, and inclusively the tourists from the community, through awareness plans and communication strategies. Currently, Mexico has 10 destinations that are working, in different phases, to become “Queer Destinations Committed”, among them are Los Cabos, Yucatán, Mexico City, Sonora, Hidalgo, Puebla, Guerrero, Mazatlán, Oaxaca and Zacatecas. Likewise, Mexico already has 12,500 tourist agents trained with the company’s Hospitality Meets Diversity Educational Program among more than 50 properties with corporates from MÍA, Mundo Imperial, Grupo Marriot, Meliá, Palladium, Hyatt, Avasa, and companies such as Hard Rock, Park Inn or Hostik.

For all this, the Secretary of Tourism of the Government of Mexico, Miguel Torruco Marqués shared: “This Secretariat under my charge, since 2019, has established a strategic alliance with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association and Queer Destinations, signing a Collaboration Agreement, which seeks to democratize the benefits of tourism for Mexicans, reduce the inequality of the population historically discriminated and strengthen the diversification of the country’s tourism offer“.

On the other hand, the founder of Queer Destinations, Oriol Pàmies, has declared that “the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico is being a pioneer in the development of national tourism strategies focused on the LGBTQ+ segment”, thus becoming “an example to be followed by countries like Spain where, within the same framework of FITUR, the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism of Spain has signed a similar agreement with which it follows in the footsteps of Mexico in receiving tourists from the community through a responsible, sustainable and adapted to the needs and trends of the sector in the tourism market”.