Colonial Architecture in Campeche City
Continuing in his efforts to make 2011 the Year of Mexican Tourism and to push Mexico further up the list of the word’s top international tourism destinations, Mexican president Felipe Caldéron has signed a National Tourism Agreement, committing to provide upgrades to infrastructure, highways, and commercial needs in order to attract further investment as well as more tourism to the state of Campeche in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Travel Weekly reports that improvements are already underway including a widening of the sidewalks in the capital city of Campeche’s historical center to create a pedestrian-friendly areas, the installation of multilingual signs at many of the city’s public monuments, the commissioning of bronze statues of a local fisherman and a shoeshine man, as well as the opening of several exhibits in churches and parks.
Calakmul in Campeche
The city of Campeche already boasts many restored buildings and colonial structures, which helped earn the city UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1999. Campeche city adds a wonderful touch of colonial Spanish culture to any archeological Mayan tour of the Yucatan Peninsula. Outside of the city, fabulous archeological sites like Edzná, Becán, Balamkú, Xpuhil, and Calakmul (the largest of all the Mayan cities) have remained lesser known than other sites of the Yucatan Peninsula like Chichén Itzá even though the sites of Campeche are much older. Hopefully with the improvements made from this grant, more travelers will be interested in exploring the wonders of Campeche.
