First “Magicos por Excelencias” Awards Presented at Tianguis Turístico 2023

29 March 2023 11:36pm

The ceremony for the awarding of the Mágicos por Excelencias Awards to the MAGIC TOWNS of MEXICO took place within the framework of the Tianguis Turístico, in Mexico City, on March 29, 2023, in the Valparaíso hall of the CITIBANAMEX Congress and Convention Center.

The event was hosted by Ms. Consuelo Elipe, Director of the Excelencias Mexico Group, who introduced Mr. José Carlos de Santiago, Chairman of the Excelencias Group, who opened the event by thanking the presence of Mr. Miguel Torruco Marqués, Mexico's Secretary of Tourism, Mtro. Humberto Hernandez Haddad, Mexico's Undersecretary of Tourism, Juan Enrique Suarez del Real Tostado, president of Mexico's Union of Tourism Secretaries (ASETUR), tourism secretaries, municipal presidents, other authorities, guests, tourism professionals and other authorities. He also wished to acknowledge the support of the General Directorate of Magical Towns of Mexico, and emphasized the extraordinary result of the popular participation in this first edition of the Magical Towns of Excellence Awards, the effort of the Magical Towns for the preservation of culture, heritage and traditions.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Secretary of Tourism for his support in every edition of the International Excellence Awards.About Mexico's participation in these international awards, Mr. José Carlos de Santiago commented:

"You in Mexico are the heart and soul of the Excelencias Awards held in Spain at the world's most important tourism fair: FITUR. For more than 10 years now, you've had more than 500 applications out of the 2,500 collected in each edition. That's unique!

Regarding the purpose of these awards, the President of the Excelencias Group said: "We wanted to do something different with the Magical Awards for Excellences; we didn't want to propose international awards but local awards that have to give the necessary value to the Magical Towns. There's something we should all carry in our hearts: pride in our homeland, pride in our people, pride in our artisans, in our gastronomy. That's what the Magical Towns of Excellence Awards are going to reward in this case.

One aspect he highlighted during his speech was that 142,197 votes were obtained during the voting, an astonishing figure.

Mexico's Secretary of Tourism, in his speech, stated that "It's an honor to meet once again with the Excelencias Group to witness the awarding of prizes to the most outstanding in the fields of tourism, gastronomy, art and culture, now in this magnificent setting that hosts the 47th edition of the Tianguis Turístico. I would also like to ask my good friend José Carlos de Santiago that for the next edition he also takes into account the theme of inclusion so that those who help the most in this great and noble activity of inclusion may be awarded an additional prize.

He also commented that the Magical Towns are the new face of tourism in Mexico, where tradition, customs, legends, folklore and gastronomy merge to make these places unique and original, so that the charm and ancestral mysticism continue to be recognized throughout the country. The promotion of these tourist places is fundamental since their strengthening has a direct impact on domestic tourism, which represents 83% of the total tourism that travels the length and breadth of the national territory.

The Magicos por Excelencias Awards recognize in the categories of nature, sustainability, gastronomy, religion, enology, paleontology, culture and heritage projects of the Magical Towns, as well as the City of Excellence Award to a Mexican Heritage City.

After counting the votes of the popular jury, which took place in Caribbean News Digital, where more than 150,000 audited votes were received, of which 142,197 were valid, and the scrutiny of the individual decision, issued by the Jury formed by 10 professionals in the tourism industry, the winners were:

CITY OF EXCELENCIAS SAN MIGUEL ALLENDE, GUANAJUATO

Picked up: LIC. JAVIER VALVERDE POLIN DIRECTOR OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT SECRETARIAT OF TOURISM OF GUANAJUATO

CULTURAL CATEGORY: MEXCALTITÁN, NAYARIT

Collected C. JUAN ENRIQUE SUÁREZ DEL REAL TOSTADO SECRETARY OF TOURISM OF THE STATE OF NAYARIT AND PRESIDENT ASETUR AND LIC. EDUARDO LUGO LÓPEZ PRESIDENTE MUNICIPAL, H. XLII AYUNTAMIENTO DE SANTIAGO IXCUINTLA NAYARIT

Project: "ISLA DE MEXCALTITÁN".

WINEMAKING CATEGORY: TEQUISQUIAPAN, QUERÉTARO

Collected by: LIC. ADRIANA VEGA VÁZQUEZ MELLADO SECRETARY OF TOURISM OF QUERÉTARO and LIC. CLARA ADRIANA TORRES MÁRQUEZ, MEMBER OF THE PATRONATO DE DESARROLLO TURÍSTICO MUNICIPAL TEQUISQUIAPAN.

Project: "FLAVORS OF TEQUISQUIAPAN".

GASTRONOMY CATEGORY: TLAQUEPAQUE, JALISCO

The undersigned were: FEDERAL DEPUTY MARÍA ELENA LIMÓN GARCÍA, LIC. OSCAR ALEJANDRO MORALES ROMERO DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TOURISM PROMOTION OF THE STATE OF JALISCO, LIC. MIRNA CITLALLI AMAYA DE LUNA PRESIDENT OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF TLAQUEPAQUE

Project: "FESTIVAL GASTRONÓMICO HIGO FEST".

NATURE CATEGORY: ISLA MUJERES, QUINTANA ROO

The following collected: MTRO. BERNARDO CUETO RIESTRA SECRETARY OF TOURISM OF QUINTANA ROO and MTRA. TERESA ATENEA GÓMEZ RICALDE, MUNICIPAL PRESIDENT OF ISLA MUJERES

Project: "THE BIRD ROUTE".

PALEONTOLOGY CATEGORY: MELCHOR MÚZQUIZ, COAHUILA

The following collected: MTRA. LUCÍA AZUCENA RAMOS RAMOS SECRETARY OF TOURISM of COAHUILA and LIC. TANIA VANESSA FLORES GUERRA MUNICIPAL PRESIDENT OF MELCHOR MÚZQUIZ

Project: "GEOPARQUE MUZQUIZ".

HERITAGE CATEGORY: VALLADOLID, YUCATÁN

Picked up: LIC. MICHELLE FRIDMAN HIRSCH SECRETARY OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF YUCATÁN

Project: "VALLADOLID, MAGICAL TOWN".

RELIGION CATEGORY: TAXCO DE ALARCÓN, GUERRERO

Collected by: LIC. SANTOS RAMÍREZ CUEVAS SECRETARY OF TOURISM OF GUERRERO, LIC. MARTHA PÉREZ ÁVILA SECRETARY OF TOURISM MUNICIPALITY OF TAXCO DE ALARCÓN

Project: "TAXCO, MAGICAL TOWN OF GUERRERO: RELIGION".

SUSTAINABILITY CATEGORY: ZIMAPÁN, HIDALGO

Collected by: LIC. ELIZABETH QUINTANAR GÓMEZ SECRETARY OF TOURISM OF HIDALGO and ING. ALAN JESÚS RIVERA VILLANUEVA MUNICIPAL PRESIDENT OF ZIMAPÁN

Project: "CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY AS AN ENGINE FOR DEVELOPMENT".

During the event, four awards were presented to personalities in the tourism sector for the creation, support and promotion of Mexico's Magical Towns:

Miguel Torruco Marqués, Mexico's Secretary of Tourism
C. Juan Enrique Suárez del Real Tostado, President of the Union of Secretaries of Tourism of Mexico (ASETUR).
Petra Puente, precursor of the Magical Towns program.
David de la Peña, president of Red de Pueblos Mágicos de México.

About Mágicos por Excelencias Awards

In 2023, the Excelencias Group has the firm intention of continuing to support Mexico's tourism industry by strengthening communication and disseminating internationally the various tourism products developed by the players in the country's value and production chain.

That's why it created the MÁGICOS POR EXCELENCIAS AWARDS, and this time they are to recognize the products and services offered by Mexico's 132 MAGIC TOWNS in its 8 categories, with the opportunity to submit their projects to the Permanent Secretariat of the Excelencias Awards, which will hand them over to the jury for judging.

Mexico's "World Heritage Cities" have also been selected to compete for the CITY OF EXCELENCIAS award.

Candidates who wished to participate sent their projects or technical folders through a detailed form. In addition, Caribbean News Digital readers and the general public were invited to participate through a voting survey in the Excelencias Group's tourism newspaper.

Rules of the Awards

About Excelencias Awards

The EXCELENCIAS AWARDS were created in 2005 by the "Excelencias Group" with the goal of fostering excellence in different fields, all of them related to tourism and culture. Since then, they have become a benchmark for all those who are involved in this important sector and develop their activity always with the goal of achieving excellence. For 18 years, Mexico has been very present and has nominated, in each edition, hundreds of public and private candidatures. An unmissable event on the first day of each edition of the FITUR Tourism Fair (Madrid).

Acknowledgments:

We are grateful for the support of the Mexican Ministry of Tourism, the General Directorate of Magical Towns. We'd also like to thank our partners: GMS Communications Marketing Sales, México Extraordinario and Escaparate Virtual.

Grupo Excelencias Media: