23/12/2011 | C. Martin
Travellers planning to take USA holidays next year can visit Mexico as the country is set to
throw a year-long celebration in the Mayan region.
The country is planning to cash in on predictions of doomsday in 2012 by
encouraging a tourism boom in five states - Chiapas, Yucatan, Quintana
Roo, Tabasco and Campeche - rich in Maya heritage.
Although Mexico as a whole usually draws about 22 million foreigners a
year, by next year just the five states once occupied by the ancient
Mayans are expected to attract 52 million visitors.
People in the Mayan region started the year-long countdown on December
21, exactly one year before the world is believed to come to an end.
Many theorists have found some evidence of a 2012 apocalypse but Mexican
archaeological authorities say that the 2012 reference on a
1,300-year-old stone tablet only marks the end of a cycle in the Mayan
calendar, not an apocalypse.
A tourism spokeswoman for the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, home to
Cancun, said: "The world will not end. It is an era. For us, it is a
message of hope."
People planning to take luxury holidays to the country can enjoy several
Maya-themed events throughout the year in southern Mexico.
Copyright Press Association 2011