“365 Flavors in Yucatán” campaign recognized for placing its cuisine at the forefront of culinary world

MADRID, Spain — Jan. 18, 2022 — The State of Yucatán’s 2021 campaign to reaffirm Yucatecan cuisine as one of Mexico’s unique offerings on the world culinary stage was recognized with the Excelencias Gourmet award at this year’s edition of the International Tourism Trade Fair, better known as FITUR, an annual global tourism sector benchmark event here in the Spanish capital.

“Being recognized by this select group of experts fills us with pride; it proves the success of all the work put together in our gastronomic tourism strategy, which has not only helped us in the recovery process,” said Michelle Fridman Hirsch, Minister of Tourism of the State of Yucatán, who accepted the award during FITUR. “The campaign has placed us in the eyes of the world as a gastronomic destination, making us deserving of awards such as Excelencias Gourmet and others.”

The Premios Excelencias, or Excellence Awards, were created in 2005 by the Excelencias Group, an international communication cluster, with the goal of promoting excellence in different fields — all of them related to tourism, gastronomy, art and culture— across Ibero-America. Since then, these awards have become a reference point for all those who are involved in these sectors and develop their activity with the constant goal of being excellent.

An international jury of nine personalities specialized in tourism, art and gastronomy, and headed by José Carlos Santiago, President of the Excelencias Group, selected the winners through a secret and unappealable vote. Nominees were chosen from a wide list of candidates, resulting in a well-deserved distinction to Yucatán in being picked as the winner.

The “Year of Yucatecan Gastronomy” was launched in 2022 by Mauricio Villa Dosal, Governor of the State of Yucatán, and Tourism Minister Fridman Hirsch. The promotion positioned the Flavors of Yucatán as the main engine to promote sustainable tourism in the region, generating work and economic support for thousands of families.

This strategy included the identification of new gastronomic and tourist products, culminating in a successful campaign called “365 Flavors in Yucatán” that introduces local culinary experiences, divided into the state’s six tourist regions: Riviera Yucatán; Mérida, Cultural Capital, Cenotes and Haciendas; Puuc Route and Mayan Villages; Mayan Capital World and Mayan Port.

Also, as part of the initiative to position Yucatán as an international gastronomic destination, the first “Sabores de Yucatán” Festival was held. It offered activities such as panels, keynote speeches, tastings, six- and eight-hand dinners, takeovers, local markets tours, gastronomic circuits, tastings, mixology workshops and the honorary presence of traditional cooks and renowned international, national and regional chefs.

These activities occurred alongside the 10th edition of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, a world-class event that attracted important chefs, industry leaders, critics, journalists and investors to the cosmopolitan city of Mérida. The Yucatecan seat is recognized as the cultural and gastronomic capital of the entire Mexican southeast, as well as a Latin American gastronomic mecca for international markets such as the U.S., Spain, U.K. and Italy.

Yucatecan gastronomy is considered one of the five best in Mexico. Its wealth lies in the mixture of techniques and ingredients used in pre-Hispanic times by the ancient Mayans, those brought to the Yucatán Peninsula by the Spanish and Lebanese during the colonial era, and the modern-day implementation of these in the new avant-garde gastronomy.

It is worth noting that these awards in 2021 had a great impact and repercussion in more than 20 countries, with more than 83 million views on their pages and more than 723 million users.

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About Yucatán

Yucatán is a place rich in diversity of natural, cultural and patrimonial attractions, boasting more than 3,000 impressive cenotes (water-filled sinkholes) and 378 km of beautiful white-sand beaches and emerald and turquoise waters. Offering wide and varied fauna, it is the home of the pink flamingo in Mexico. It is replete with archeological zones of world relevance such as Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, a cultural mosaic where the living culture of the Mayas still stands out, as well as a vast and exquisite gastronomy, colonial cities, so=called Magical Towns and much more. Yucatán is also a “State of Peace,” a recognition signed by 30 Nobel Peace Prize winners in 2019, and Mérida is the only seat of government in the world to be recognized twice as the American Capital of Culture. It is also the only city in Mexico listed among the Top 5 of Best Cities in the World by Condé Nast Traveler in 2022 in the category of large cities. Mérida offers flight connections to main domestic air hubs such as Mexico City, AIFA, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Toluca, León, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz, Villahermosa, Tijuana and Oaxaca, as well as will international destinations such as Miami, Houston, Oakland, Dallas, Toronto, Havana, Flores and Guatemala. For more information, visit Yucatán.travel.