Gloria Guevara

Gloria Rebeca Guevara Manzo
Secretary of Tourism Mexico ( March 10, 2010 - 2012 )
President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Preceded by Rodolfo Elizondo Torres
Succeeded by Claudia Ruiz Massieu
Personal details
Born Sep 1, 1967
Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico
Citizenship Mexico
Political party Independent
Spouse(s) Alejandro del Arenal
Children Kayla and Alan
Parents Gustavo Guevara Martinez and Gloria Elizabeth Manzo
Alma mater Universidad Anahuac and Kellogg School of Business Northwestern University
Profession Computer Science
Religion Catholic

Gloria Guevara Manzo (born 1967) is a business executive with experience in the private and public sectors. She was Secretary of Tourism for Mexico from March 2010 to November 30, 2012. Gloria began her professional career at [1]NCR Corporation in 1989 and worked in the IT industry in various roles, working for North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa regions. Since 1995 she has worked for Travel and Tourism in different capacities for Sabre Holdings, the Mexican Government and as independent.

Biography

She was born in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico and holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Anahuac University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business of Northwestern University. She has studies in Marketing, General Management, Project Management, Leadership and other subjects at IPADE , George Washington University and other schools.

She is the daughter of Gustavo Adolfo Guevara Martinez, a retired General of the Mexican Army and Gloria Elizabeth Manzo Lopez, daughter of a prominent lawyer who offered free services and legal defense to poor people in the state of Michoacan Mexico. Gloria has two sisters Perla and Vanessa, and she is married to Alejandro del Arenal Quiroz, both have two children Kayla and Alan.

Travel industry

Since 1995, Guevara has worked for the travel industry. She worked for Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Holdings for 15 years in a variety of positions. Based in Mexico city, then Coral Gables Florida, where she had regional responsibilities and worked for the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and later held global responsibilities as Vice President for Customer Solutions and Vendor Management in the Information Office in the Sabre headquarter in Southlake Texas. Gloria was also the CEO of Sabre de Mexico, a joint venture between Aeromexico, Mexicana and Sabre holdings, where she was reporting to the board of directors.

During Gloria’s time in the private sector, CNN and Expansion recognized her several years as one of the [2] Most influential and powerful women in Mexico.

Cabinet position

President Felipe Calderon in the center, Secretary Guevara left and Secretary Elizondo right

On March 10 of 2010, President Felipe Calderon appointed Gloria as the Secretary of Tourism, a cabinet position that leads a sector that contributes to 9% of Mexico’s GDP and employs 2.5 million people directly and 5 million indirectly according to INEGI. Mexico is one of the top 10 destinations in the world in terms of international arrivals according to United Nations World Tourism Organization. Two weeks after her appointment, she was also given the responsibility of overseeing the Mexico Tourism Board including the strategy to promote and position the country during difficult times.

Under her leadership in this important Secretariat, the National Agreement for Tourism was created and signed in 2011. The agreement was an unprecedented initiative with a key strategic plan for the country that aligned the entire sector and the Mexican Federal Government; all Governors of the Mexican states; Congress; Senate; Unions; Academia; and representatives from the Private Sector, including associations and chambers. This national agreement created the foundation in tourism that Mexico needed for the strong growth, and has been used as a model for other countries and as an example by United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Secretary Guevara speaking during Travel Summit

During her time at Government, Mexico faced the accumulated impact of the worst financial and economic crises, in addition to H1N1 flu outbreak and the challenges in security, creating the most difficult and challenging environment in recent history.

Under her leadership, Mexico was able to turn around the situation from a loss of millions of international and domestic tourists to a growth path that [3] broke new records with the highest numbers in 2011 and 2012 with more than 200 million travelers domestic and international.

Mexico grew the international arrivals from 148 nations from around the world and implemented a diversification strategy by launching other segments that promoted also Adventure, Luxury, Youth, Religious and Cultural Tourism like the promotion of the Maya Routes, Maya World and Maya calendar

Secretary Guevara presenting Maya Route in Fitur 2012

Mexico hosted very important events for the Industry such as World Tourism Travel Council first Regional Summit in Riviera Maya, T20 in Merida with all the leaders of Tourism, UNWTO Executive Council in Campeche, and the First Cultural Tourism Travel Fair.

G20 and T20

Ministers of Tourism, leaders, Secretary General UNWTO, WTTC during T20 in Mexico

During the T20 in Merida in 2011, all leaders of Tourism from the G20 economies, UNWTO, WTTC, WEF, IATA and leaders gathered to discuss the impact in Tourism and the creation of jobs due to Travel Facilitation.[4]

The report from Oxford economics concluded that more around 5.1 million jobs could be created due to travel facilitation in tourism. This was included in the Merida T20 declaration and later shared with all leaders of G20 countries.

In June 2012 thanks to her leadership for the first time in history, Travel and Tourism and its contribution to the economic growth of nations was included in the G20 leaders declaration of los Cabos Mexico.[5]

President Barack Obama and Secretary of Tourism of Mexico Gloria Guevara with first lady of Chile to the right and first lady of BCS to the left

"We recognize the role of travel and tourism as a vehicle for job creation, economic growth and development, and, while recognizing the sovereign right of States to control the entry of foreign nationals, we will work towards developing travel facilitation initiatives in support of job creation, quality work, poverty reduction and global growth.".

The information of the study was included.

This was an important milestone for the industry worldwide that gave Gloria the recognition of G20 pioneer.

She was invited to speak at the House of Commons in London during the dinner offered by PATA and to several other forums to share the experience and the impact on travel facilitation public policies.[6]

Secretary Guevara and Ambassador Wayne during the launch of Global Entry for Mexicans

During this time Mexico improved security and changed visa requirements to facilitate travel to countries such as

Rusia, Brazil, China, Colombia and Peru.

In addition Mexico was included in the list of countries for Global Entry. In November 2011 the Ambassador of USA in Mexico

Anthony Wayne announced with Secretary Guevara the requirements, procedure and new option for Mexicans to facilitate travel to the United States.

Other responsibilities

Gloria was the CEO and Chairman of the board of Mexico Tourism Board and the Chairman of Fonatur. During her time in Mexico Tourism board the country launched a campaign to reposition the country´s image via online, public relations and traditional marketing.

Gloria is special advisor on Government affairs in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she is also part of the Future of Travel and Tourism Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, and the World Tourism Think Tank, She offers conferences public speaking and consulting services to different corporations, countries and destinations around the world on Travel Destination DNA and expansion strategies. She is a partner in private equity investment firms who invest in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism. She sits in a couple of boards of large corporations. and she is also part of the advisory board "Unidos contra la Trata" that promotes and works in initiatives against Human Trafficking to protect children, youth and women mainly.

Recognitions

Gloria received the Good Neighbor Award from the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce] and Virtuoso awarded Mexico the BEST Tourism board in the world] due the successful branding and reposition efforts. She was also recognized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization for her contribution to the sector.

References

  1. ↑ "Home - NCR". NCR. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  2. ↑ "Las 50 mujeres más poderosas 2010 -". www.cnnexpansion.com. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  3. ↑ Board, Mexico Tourism. "Mexico Poised to Break Tourism Records in 2012". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  4. ↑ http://t20.unwto.org/content/about-1
  5. ↑ https://g20.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/G20_Leaders_Declaration_Final_Los_Cabos.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.patamanager.org/press/pata-hosts-advocacy-dinner-in-house-of-commons-london
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