Arizona Office of Tourism, State of Sonora Sign Collaborative Tourism Pledge

Signing was part of 3-day working trip by Tourism Secretary of Mexico and other Mexican tourism leaders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHOENIX (June 23, 2023) — A delegation of high-ranking tourism officials from Mexico is visiting Arizona for several days of meetings with the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) and other Arizona tourism and trade leaders to discuss collaborative strategies to increase tourism and trade between Arizona and Mexico.

The visit culminated in the signing of an official Letter of Intent between AOT Director Lisa Urias and Sonoran Secretary of Tourism Roberto Gradillas, witnessed by Gov. Katie Hobbs and Sonoran Governor Durazo committing to collaborate on joint strategies to promote tourism to the two-state region.

“Mexico and the state of Sonora are our friends, neighbors and longtime tourism partners,” Urias said. “As we work to build international visitation back, I couldn’t think of a better time to reaffirm our strong relationship while planning collaboratively for our future success.”

The trip marks the first visit to Arizona by federal Secretary of Tourism of Mexico Miguel Torruco Marqués, who has served in this role since 2018. As Arizona’s largest trading partner and largest source of international visitors to both the U.S. and Arizona, a strong relationship with Mexico is crucial to Arizona’s economic vitality. While visitation hasn’t fully recovered since the pandemic, the numbers are increasing. In 2021, Arizona saw more than 2.5 million visitors from Mexico.

The trip includes several meetings focusing on tourism planning, recognizing Sister Cities relationships and sports tourism from June 21-23.

Selected highlights include:

June 22 - Sister Cities Breakfast: Included approximately 40 mayors from Sonora and honor existing sister cities program participants in Arizona and Mexico.
June 22 - Así Es Mexico Conference: Mexican secretaries of tourism from Sonora, Nuevo León, Baja California and Nayarit joined Sec. Torruco to highlight destinations and experiences in their states.
June 22 - Arizona-Sonora Tourism Roundtable & Letter of Intent Signing: Tourism officials from the two states collaborated and share plans to promote the region. Letter of Intent was signed.
June 23 - Arizona-Mexico Sports Tourism Roundtable: Mexican and Arizona tourism officials will gather at Chase Field to discuss leveraging sports experiences as a tourism attractor.

“Arizona and Mexico – and especially the State of Sonora – have a long-standing relationship built on mutual cooperation, strong economic ties and shared culture,“ added Urias. “We are very excited to welcome to Arizona Tourism Secretary Torruco of Mexico, Tourism Secretary Gradillas of Sonora and the entire delegation from Mexico to continue building this special relationship.”

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Media Contact: Josh Coddington, (480) 438-4700, [email protected]

About the Arizona Office of Tourism: The Arizona Office of Tourism works to strengthen and grow Arizona's economy through travel and tourism promotion, positioning Arizona as the leading tourism destination for domestic and international travelers. In 2021, tourism employed more than 167,000 Arizonans and contributed over $3.4 billion in tax revenue to our federal, state and local economies.