Great Expectations Pinned on Expo Cancun

The world-class Mexican travel destination of Cancun is now holding Expo Cancun –scheduled to come to a close Thursday- the most important tourism promotional event in the city.

Sponsored by the Office of Conventions and Visitors, the main goal of the gathering is to beef up Cancun’s position as Mexico’s top travel choice.

As many as 45 tourism companies are attending Expo Cancun 2004 in the city of Guadalajara as part of a nonpermanent exhibition aimed at advertising local products and services as far as the leisure industry is concerned.

The event, now unfolding its seventh straight edition, is organized by the Cancun Chapter of the International Hospitality Market & Sales Association in a joint effort with Mexico’s Tourism Department.

National tourism is by a long shot one of Cancun’s premier market segments with 3.1 million travelers last year alone, including a million trekkers from other parts of the country.

Jalisco’s state authorities note that since Expo Cancun got its big break seven years ago, the inflow of national trippers has jumped 7 percent, from 25 to 32 percent of the total market share.