The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, in conjunction with the Convention and Visitor's Bureau of Riviera Nayarit, will host the 25th Annual Gala Vallarta-Nayarit at the Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center on February 11 and 12, 2019.

A specialized trade show that brings national and international wholesalers and tour operators that sell travel to this popular vacation destination together with Banderas Bay area hotel industry leaders, Gala Vallarta - Nayarit is the most important commercial tourism event in the region.

In this twenty-fifth edition, a total of 89 national and international wholesalers are scheduled to meet with the 96 Banderas Bay area hotels participating in the trade show, which sets an all-time record in attendance and represents a 32% increase over 2018, when 66 wholesalers were present.

This year, partners from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil, will join the partners from North America (Mexico, the United States and Canada), Spain and England that have been represented in past years, bringing the total number of countries participating to sixteen.

In the 2019 edition, the trade show will once again be conducted in the innovative format that has become characteristic of Gala Vallarta-Nayarit. All wholesalers and operators will have pre-established appointments with the hoteliers, with the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board and the Riviera Nayarit CVB arranging meetings between the parties.

An Increasingly Popular Destination

The ongoing success of Gala is reflected in the constant increase in air connectivity to the Puerto Vallarta International Airport. The negotiations that are achieved within the framework of this annual event result in a greater demand for rooms which, in turn, increases the demand for more flights and frequencies to the destination.

Now offering flights to more than 50 destinations around the world, the Puerto Vallarta International Airport welcomed around 4.76 million travelers in 2018, according to the facility's operator, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico.

Connectivity to the region has been consolidated in mature markets, such as Mexico, which in 2017 saw an increase of 13%, thanks in part to with the new flights from El Bajío on Volaris and from Puebla on Viva Aerobús. For Canada, there are new Swoop routes from Hamilton and Abbotsford; and for the United States, Sun Country recently announced a new flight from Las Vegas.

As for Europe, the Finnair flight from Helsinki is well into its second winter season, and TUI recently announced an additional frequency from Manchester, England, for winter 2019 and summer 2020.

But the flight with the highest expectations is from Copa Airlines that opens the doors to Latin America through the hub of the Hub of the Americas in Panama.

The negotiations carried out at Gala Puerto Vallarta - Riviera Nayarit work hand-in-hand with the continuous work of the tourism boards who, in alliance with the three levels of government, promote the destination throughout the year.

This active partnership has attracted numerous investments in hotel infrastructure, along with improvements to the airport and cruise port, which both continue to report an ongoing increase in arrivals to Vallarta-Nayarit.