Addressing an audience of entrepreneurs from the Tourism Sector, President Felipe Calderón said he was convinced that the leadership, participation and unity of society as a whole is crucial to the country’s current situation, referring to the three main challenges Mexicans have had to face: the battle fought against organized crime, the effects of the international economic crisis and more recently, the A/H1N1 flu virus (swine flu) epidemic.

Accompanied by State Governor, Emilio González Márquez; Secretaries of the Economy and Tourism, Gerardo Ruiz Mateos and Rodolfo Elizondo Torres, respectively; and outgoing and incoming presidents of CONCANACO-SERVyTUR, Antonio Mahbub Sarquis and Mario Sánchez Ruiz, the President specifically referred to the Tourism Sector, and the effects of the A/H1N1 virus epidemic.

A propos of this, he said that $1.2 million pesos have been assigned to promoting tourism through the Vive México program, the application of tax exemptions and discounts, the expansion of credits, the activation of the Emergency Program of Support for Workers in the Tourist Sector, which has a budget of 200 million pesos and the recent signing of the decree for the new General Law of Tourism, which will improve tourism planning.

The Vive Mexico campaign is aimed to reactivate tourism in Mexico´s favorite vacation destinations such as Cancun, Riviera Maya, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, and many others that were drastically affected by the Swine Flu outbreak last month.

“We are aware that the sector most highly affected by the circumstances, particularly the epidemiological situation, has been tourism, which is crucial to the livelihood of millions of Mexicans. That is why we are acting on this front and why the Vive México campaign is seeking activities such as these, whereby Mexicans will be able to visit our own tourist resorts.

The President stressed that economic recovery is beginning to be felt, following records of increases in hotel occupation in the country’s tourist centers and the arrival of cruise ships, as well as rises in the Mexican stock market.

He explained that these results have tested Mexico and its society and government. “I know that precisely because of the scope of these problems and the way we have gradually overcome them that Mexico has not only shown its strength but will actually emerge stronger,” declared President Felipe Calderón.

Source: Press Room/ Presidential Government of Mexico/ www.presidencia.gob.mx