The losses of the congress and convention industry in Yucatan could add up to more than 5 billion pesos derived from the cancellation or modification of around 300 events per year due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
MERIDA Yucatan (SIPSE) – Yucatan companies that were fully or indirectly dedicated to the congress and convention industry were affected and went bankrupt in many cases. Many entrepreneurs were forced to reinvent themselves with distance events that include augmented virtual reality, real-time conferences, 4D creations, and virtual tours of tourist attractions. This strategy did not let this critical sector die in Yucatan, which generates more than 8 billion pesos a year.
Of the 57 events scheduled to occur this year, registered by the Public Trust for the Development of Meetings Tourism in Yucatan (Fideture), 26 were canceled due to this pandemic. The remaining ones are postponed to the second half of next year if health conditions allow it.
The president of the southern region of Amprofec, Gonzalo Novelo Lujan, said that at this time, the sector of congresses and meetings in Yucatan still does not enjoy a full reopening. “It is expected– he said -in the second half of next year to begin to resume such events and thus the reactivation of the sector in depth congresses and conventions.
New technologies in Yucatan
Meanwhile, at the end of the year, a group of entrepreneurs from Yucatan held the first Interactive Virtual Reality Expo in Mexico, positioning Mexico and Yucatan within the International Billboard of Virtual Reality Events of 2020.
The event left a mark in the realization of virtual conventions at the country level, in which a group of experts held an expo never before seen with the latest technology.
The entrepreneur Harumi Cosau commented that they decided to take advantage of new technologies to create a new concept of virtual reality meetings that was successfully carried out last month. There was virtual assistance with participants at the international level.
She commented that to become a new festival, it was necessary to carry it out in a virtual way, supported by electronic platforms with the capacity that 35 thousand people can interact simultaneously.
“Then we opted for a virtual expo in which 170 exhibitors participated with a delivery system, with online stores, and that marked a watershed for the sector of virtual meetings for the country from Yucatan …” he said.
