In Puebla, on average, 140 congress and convention events should be held per year, which has stopped being held in the last eight years due to the lack of promotion as a venue, despite the fact that there are venues, some to accommodate up to 5,000 people.
Service providers agreed that, currently, barely 60 events are held per year, a situation that affects the economic impact, given the low influx of convention tourism.
In this regard, Javier Cué de la Fuente, president of the Tourism Business Council (CNET) in Puebla, said that after the Covid-19 pandemic, Puebla capital has not been able to recover in terms of attracting large conventions even though activity in that sector has been normalized since 2023.
He commented that hoteliers, restaurateurs and tour operators are harmed by the low number of conventions held in Angelópolis during the week, whose room occupancy ranges around 40 percent.
He mentioned that national congresses and conventions reached a 90% occupancy rate, especially from Wednesday to Friday, even on Saturday, which was positive for service providers.
He pointed out that the strategy to promote Puebla as a venue for this type of event has failed, as they have to be sought two years in advance to attract them, but that now they have gone or returned to Mexico City to be held.
“Not much importance has been given to these markets, which for tourism service providers made up of hoteliers, restaurateurs and tour operators are important in terms of income,” he said.
He added that businessmen in these sectors cannot be at the mercy of the high seasons in the year, which are four, but rather they must seek to take advantage of the different types of tourism to attract them not only from Friday to Sunday, but throughout the week.
It affects investments and jobs
Manuel Domínguez Gabián, president of the Puebla Association of Hotels and Motels, said that this low influx of convention tourism has also caused investments in new complexes to be put on hold, because the tourist influx has not grown as they would like in recent years.
He considered that if the new authorities of the state, who will take office in mid-December, and of the municipality of Puebla, who began their functions on October 15, do not have a joint strategy to recover the number of annual events that were held in that market, it will bring short-term consequences, especially in jobs and investments.
“Employees in the tourism sector, in some areas, have a base salary and earn more through tips, therefore, importance must be given to holding conventions,” he said.
Under this context, he said that Angelópolis hosted national and regional exhibitions per year; that is, they had activity all the time in hotel occupancy.
Hotels organize events
Small congresses were also held in hotels, as some have auditoriums or halls to receive 500 people, but they stopped promoting them as well.
He clarified that the number of visitors attracted by the meeting industry usually varies, as some events bring from 200 visitors to 2,500, but on average they attract between 800 and 900 people for four days of events, which benefits hotels and other service providers.
He acknowledged that in the case of attracting convention events there is competition with other cities in the country, but Puebla is attractive for organizers because it has large venues.
He mentioned that restaurants, tour operators and hoteliers are in favor of contributing because they know that by joining forces they can strengthen economic activity and have more income and jobs.
Infrastructure in venues
In Puebla there are four venues with good capacity. These include the GNP auditorium, with a capacity of 11,000 spectators, which opened in 2017; the Exhibition and Convention Center, which has a capacity of 25,000 to 50,000 people, opened in 2010, as well as the Auditorium of the University Cultural Complex of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP), with a capacity of 3,600 spectators and the Metropolitan Auditorium, with 5,000 seats, opened in 2015.
For his part, the president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac), Carlos Azomoza Alacio, considered that it would be possible to have a Convention and Congress Bureau again, as it existed 20 years ago, which was in charge of promoting Puebla as a destination for events of this type.
He said that in this decentralized public body, service providers were represented and contributed with ideas and promotions so that everyone could offer something to the congressmen, since they left an economic benefit.
He commented that if this type of tourism is not supported, hotel occupancy during the week will continue to be low, which benefits all service providers.
Source: eleconomista
