During the celebration of the VI meeting of tourism ministers of the countries of the bloc —which took place in San Cristóbal, state of Táchira (southwest), in the context of the XVII Tourism Fair of Venezuela— the executive secretary of the Alliance, Jorge Arreaza, referred to the topics discussed in the two-day meeting.
He mentioned issues such as the simplification of procedures for granting visas; regulations of tourist services; sustainable tourism; linguistic training for tourism; quality of service; customer service; professional development; the discussion of proposals and agreements on air services.
The design of strategies for increasing routes, frequencies and operations; incorporation of airlines for the evaluation of routes; facilitation of procedures and operational permits for the authorization of operations; marketing and sales, among others.
The diplomat pointed out that perhaps in another integration or policy coordination organization, tourism can be seen simply as an economic strategy, seeking profits and strengthening a sector of the economy.
He stressed in this regard that in the Bolivarian Alliance, tourism activity also represents “an opportunity for peoples to meet, get to know each other, recognize each other and learn from our diverse cultures.”
Arreaza recalled the signing by Commanders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez in 2004 in Havana, Cuba, of the document that gave rise to ALBA-TCP and pointed out that two decades of a very rich experience with achievements in the social sphere had passed.
Among them, he mentioned the operation of more than five million people who underwent eye surgery (Operation Miracle), the thousands of doctors trained and the literacy of hundreds of thousands of women and men.
Regarding the date, he announced that the ALBA-TCP Presidential Council Summit will take place in Caracas on December 14, where they will celebrate those 20 years.
The Minister for Tourism of Venezuela, Leticia Gómez, when speaking, considered the two days of work developed to be intense and fruitful in which “we have made a commitment to the political, tourist, commercial and cultural integration of our nations.”
She announced that a roadmap was drawn up that will allow strengthening cooperation in tourism, with the promotion of the development of multi-destination products and the consideration of a tourist brand for the Alliance that “identifies us” and strengthens air connectivity between the countries.
Gómez described the results of the five working groups set up as encouraging, a product, he said, of the will of each of the representatives of this integrative mechanism.
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