Mayor Gives Up FITUR Seat to Local Content Creator

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo – The municipal president of Playa del Carmen, Estefanía Mercado, released a video message announcing that she will not travel to Spain next January to participate in the International Tourism Fair (FITUR).

Instead, she explained, her seat will be assigned to a local content creator from the city, with the goal that from their perspective, voice, and talent they can tell the world why Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya is the best destination in the Mexican Caribbean.

The decision comes in a context where the presence of Mexican politicians—particularly from Quintana Roo—at FITUR has been controversial for years, because officials and legislators without direct links to the tourism industry would often attend with official per diems and end up carrying out activities unrelated to destination promotion.

Within the territory of the municipality of Playa del Carmen lies most of the Riviera Maya, one of the engines of national tourism along with Cancún, the two main destinations of the Mexican Caribbean.

Despite that relevance, the mayor opted not to personally lead the delegation.

“My seat as municipal president at FITUR 2026 will not be for me; it will be for a content creator from Playa del Carmen, so that from their perspective, their voice, and their talent they can tell the world who we are and why we are the best destination in the Mexican Caribbean,” expressed Estefanía Mercado in the message.

She detailed that the official delegation will be headed by businesswoman Fabiana Briseño, accompanied by municipal teams from Culture, Economic Development and Tourism, as well as by the business sector, represented by Gerardo Valadés.

“Because no one speaks better of Playa del Carmen than its people. And because this city is represented with identity, with pride, and with heart,” emphasized the municipal president, who added that the city’s participation in FITUR 2026 under this new scheme is already being prepared.

Estefanía Mercado indicated that she will continue working from the territory, and that while the delegation carries out international promotion work, she will remain attending to the local agenda and supporting from a distance the destination representation efforts.