Five Mexican states are drawing on their Mayan heritage to form a tourism alliance designed attract more visitors and help improve local living standards. Collectively found in south-eastern Mexico, the “Mundo Maya Region” states include the Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche.

The agreement will facilitate co-operation between governments, the private sector, and local communities to “strengthen tourism and promote social integration, the feeling of identity, and contribute to better economic conditions for the inhabitants of the region by promoting a constant flow of regional, national and international visitors.”

“Having the heritage inherited from the Mayan culture is a privilege. It is the culture that gives identity to the southeast of Mexico,” said officials from the Yucatan said in a release.

The Yucatan includes the ancient Mayan site of Chichén Itzá – “a source of national pride and international admiration” – as well as culture, traditions, natural, gastronomic, and archaeological attractions, that will only be strengthened by the alliance, they say.

This will include community involvement in sustainable resource management and enhanced training for industry personnel, particularly in respect to post-pandemic travel.

The agreement “is an instrument that allows us to collaborate on many subjects, as well as coordinating mutually beneficial actions,” added Tabasco secretary of tourism José Antonio Nieves, whose region includes the Rios Mayas product, which is linked to Mexico’s great national project, the Mayan Train

Chiapas secretary of tourism Katyna de la Vega welcomed “a new era of the Mayan World,” adding, “Chiapas is the spirit of the Mayan World and it will always be committed to the development of this magnificent region of our country.”

“We are facing the most difficult and challenging moment in its history,” said Michelle Fridman of Yucatan’s ministry of tourism development. “However, every crisis brings opportunities: finding the union, the coincidence in the sum of efforts, will be instrumental to move forward. And that is what we are doing today with this Mundo Maya Region alliance: rebuilding our destinations, learning to do better tourism and reshape what we can do better, in a more sustainable way, in a more responsible way and with better practices.”