Educational Travel Community Executive Advisory Council Meets in Mexico City

For Immediate Release, July 12, 2011

Issued by: The Mexico Tourism Board
Contact: J.Mara DelliPriscoli, President, Travel Learning Connections Inc.
Tel.: 406-745-4800  
E-mail: jmara@travelearning.com

The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) is supporting the Educational Travel Community’s (ETC) decision to choose Mexico City, Mexico as the desired destination for their Executive Advisory Council meeting. The meeting was held from July 7-11, 2011, to plan and coordinate ETC’s 26th Annual Educational Travel Conference, scheduled for Orlando, Florida, on January 19-22, 2012, and to leverage educational and cultural tourism into Mexico.

ETC is a community of educational, university and museum travel planners, leading U.S. tour operators, travel service providers, and inbound operators from over 41 countries that unite with the common goal “to open doors to open minds” through educational and cultural travel. Consequently, the plans that were drawn up in Mexico City are of utmost importance for those who will be attending the 26th Annual Educational Travel Conference. The latter is a dynamic, one-of-a-kind conference limited to 450 delegates to focus on the cutting-edge programming and marketing of lifelong learning/educational group tours for alumni associations, universities, museums, zoos, aquariums throughout the US and Canada.  

“Cultural tourism will play a critical role in strengthening local economies throughout the interior of Mexico. The rich and incredibly diverse cultural and historical assets of Mexico—as showcased to our ETC delegation attending Mexico’s first Cultural Tourism Fair in Morelia, Michoacan in November 2010—offer a plethora of new and dynamic experiential travel opportunities yet untapped for this niche market of educational tourism. Interior cultural routes such as the Pueblos Magicos offer a strategic base for further developing a rich tapestry of cultural tourism product to creatively market to the alumni and museum market in the US. Our EAC meeting in Mexico City will serve to further enhance and expand a cultural tourism partnership ongoing with the Mexico Tourism Board since 1999," says Mara DelliPriscoli, ETC Founder, and President of Travel Learning Connections.  

The Executive Advisory Council of ETC—composed of the top travel and educational travel leaders—met throughout a period of three days to plan next year’s important event. At the same time, delegates were able to experience and get to know Mexico as part of their educational experience for further consideration and promotion of cultural travel to Mexico City. Delegates visited places of extreme cultural and historical importance such as the Museum of Anthropology and History, as well as two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Teotihuacán and the Historic Center of Mexico City.

Finally, and most importantly, the delegates had a meeting with Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, Gloria Guevara, to discuss a wide range of tourism related issues and opportunities in cultural tourism. “Mexico is rich in heritage and traditions, with more than three thousand years of history. It is the country with more archeological zones in the world, with 30 thousand, and is number 6th in designated UNESCO sites. The vast array of cultural, historical, and natural attractions of our country offer unique possibilities for cultural and educational programs," says Minister Guevara.

The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) was honored to host the members of the Executive Travel Council, as it recognizes that the annual ETC Conference shares a common goal of promoting knowledge, cross-cultural exchange, and lifelong learning through tourism. Among the organizations attending were:  Academic Arrangements Abroad, the Art Institute of Chicago, Classic Escapes, Vanderbilt University, University of Colorado, Alumni Holiday International, Thomson Safaris, Thomson Family Adventures, and Gibb's Farm, University of Notre Dame, Travel Insurance Services, Princeton Journeys / Princeton University, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, University of Washington, Dartmouth College, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, University of Santa Barbara, and the Sierra Club.

About Mexico Tourism Board
The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) brings together the resources of federal and state governments, municipalities and private companies to promote Mexico’s tourism attractions and destinations internationally. Created in 1999, the MTB functions as an executive agency of Mexico’s Tourism Secretariat, with autonomous management and the board participation of the private sector. Though our regional office is located in Chicago, the MTB has international offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.