I SAY IT TIME AND AGAIN
It is a cause for celebration that more than two hundred hoteliers in Madrid have decided to make the Museo del Prado newspaper available for their clients, with a circulation of 100,000 copies in Spanish and English, an art gallery that received last year more than 3 million visitors, way more visitors than some small Englishspeaking islands of the Caribbean receive such as the Virgin Islands or Barbados.
As though they were reading my previous article: “Paseando por Madrid se vive el arte” (Walking around Madrid is how you live art), in which, among other things that I missed to say, I mentioned how little is being done for Madrid label other than that of the violet flower, and there is no possible way one can agree with the policies of that city council. At the end of the day, we are almost the last ones in Europe to keep the changing of the guard ceremony in a royal palace.
At least, Iberia Express has announced that they will place in the front of their A 320s printings of works that are exhibited in the museums of the Paseo del Arte, and finally we will have a Vidi code to allow the passengers to download a free application available in nine languages, with twenty-four masterpieces, and also being able to enjoy a diptych onboard with information on how to visit the collections.
Because cultural tourism is a world trend, and he who does not want to see this is doing like the ostrich, by hiding his head in the sand when neglecting the risks of a mismanagement of the “smokeless” industry.
We should turn our eyes to the Americas where the Ministry of Tourism of a country such as Cuba decides that their international fair should promote, on its first day, a tour to a city like Gibara, that has hosted for more than a decade an international cinema festival, and extends an invitation to one hell of a festival such as Romerias de Mayo, aiming to make the tourist live face to face with one people's culture.
I admire Nicaragua's Minister of Tourism who promoted a plan in Madrid characterized by multiethnicity and diversity: “our nation is a country of lakes and volcanoes, Ruben Dario's homeland, the largest and safest nation in Central America that requires no visa. Whoever comes will have the chance to interact with our people and know first hand our culture and gastronomy”.
I welcome the announcement by Uruguay about the touristy potential of Ruta de la Leche, for those who are seeking for nature, good typical cuisine, and the historical look back on the origins of the country. And Chile, that has a sustained growth of visitors at the mythical Magallanes region, Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego right in front of the Antarctic, to crack the six-million plateau.
Or Mexico, that invites to Ruta de Juan Rulfo, and is also about to become the first world power in cruise ships in the Caribbean, because in their ports on the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean it is expecting the arrival of 2,280 passenger ships.
And the icing on the cake: the ministers of tourism from Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia inked a letter addressed to Pope Francisco asking him to declare Camino de los Jesuitas, the so called multi-destination Jesuit Route in South America, as of world interest.
And even Egypt will promote the route of the Sacred Family, which fled from Palestine two thousand years ago persecuted by King Herod.