By Eliane Portillo

The State Governments of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatan, together with Sectur, will invest $679 million dollars in the promotion and works on the occasion of the Mayan World Program. SECTUR anticipated the arrival of 52 millions of tourists to the Riviera Maya in 2012.

The tourist attraction of the Riviera Maya has become tip of spear mainly for beach tourism and archaeological tourism markets. The Secretariat of Tourism (Sectur) estimated an income of over $270 billion pesos in Mexico. Mayan World has promoted the opening of new air routes with the arrival in different parts of the Riviera Maya. For example, Mexican airlines such as Aeromexico, VivaAeroebus and Mayair opened new routes to Cancun.

In 2011, Cancun's international airport was consolidated as one of the most important air terminals in Mexico and Latin America by recording 13 million passengers, as a result of air connectivity of Quintana Roo with Europe, United States and Canada.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will invest $300 million pesos in the preservation of the main archaeological sites in the Mayan World program.

Furthermore, archaeological tourism stands out as one of the biggest attractions of the Riviera Maya. The most visited Mayan ruins were: Bonampak and Palenque in Chiapas, Edzna, and Calakmul, in Tabasco, Uxmal and Chichen Itza, in Yucatan; as well as Tulum and Coba, in Quintana Roo.

In addition, the Mexican Tourism Board (CPTM) allocated this year over $109 million pesos for media promotion, of which $26 million pesos will be for international media.