Guanajuato to challenge Jalisco for tequila tourism

Jalisco is rightly famed as the home of Mexico’s national drink, but now Guanajuato is attempting to rival its neighbor state in the tequila tourism stakes.

Having drawn 19 million visitors and 43 billion pesos from tourism last year, Guanajuato hopes interest in tequila production can help those figures rise to 28 million visitors and 74 billion pesos by 2018.

The Tequila Trail has long enticed tourists to Jalisco, with the Tequila Express train to the Herradura distillery in Amatitan and the new Cuervo Express to the Jose Cuervo distillery in Tequila among the most popular attractions. Guanajuato hopes to enjoy similar success upon launching its own Tequila Circuit this Easter.

“Jalisco has tequila tourism and I believe this can be extended to the Guanajuato area, which is home to important businesses in the industry,” Guanajuato’s Tourism Secretary Fernando Olivera Rocha said last weekend. “Visiting these places where they make the drink will become an unforgettable experience that will distinguish Guanajuato as one of the most complete tourist destinations in the country.”

Tourists will be encouraged to visit the municipalities of Cueramaro, Abasolo and Penjamo, home to iconic blue agave fields and the Corralejo, Real de Penjamo and Don Ramon distilleries. Like Cuervo and Herradura, Corralejo runs  a museum and tours of its distillery, explaining the production process step-by-step.

Protected under a designation of origin, tequila can only be produced in Jalisco and certain regions of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit and Tamaulipas.