Mazatlan: chosen as the best family beach in the ‘Battle of Destinations’

Mazatlan, the Mexican port known as the Pearl of the Pacific, won over Cancun, Ixtapa and Acapulco in the ‘Family Beach Destination’ category of the 3rd Battle of Destinations. The Travelocity Gnome visited the city and stopped at the Riu Emerald Bay, which Riu debuted as its first property in the destination and its 15th hotel in Mexico in May 2009.

The Battle of Destinations was organized by Travelocity.com.mx, the Mexican Tourism Promotion Counsel (Consejo de Promoción Turística de México (CPTM) and the tourism offices of 14 cities. This third Battle received a record five million votes, 2.2 million of which were for Mazatlan.

The Gnome visited Mazatlan’s main attractions during his stay in the Port: the historical center; the new convention center; Huana Coa; the Osuna Family Vinata; ‘El Quelite’ historical village; and the best hotels in the destination. He also enjoyed Mazatlan’s gastronomy, culture and nightlife, as well of a day of fishing –a must in Mazatlan.

The Gnomo also visited the Riviera Maya, winner of the Luxury Travel Category. He will additionally visit Monterrey, chosen from the Big Cities competitors.

The Travelocity Gnome was welcomed to RIU by Francisco Zamora, General Manager of the Riu Emerald Bay Hotel, and Fernando del Torno, Sales Manager (in the picture above).

The Riu Emerald Bay Hotel offers RIU’s All Inclusive 24 hour program and has a privileged beach front location on Playa Las Brujas. The hotel has 716 sea view rooms, four restaurants, kids club, day and night entertainment program, Pacha nightclub, spa, convention center and much more.

About Travelocity: Travelocity® is one of the main online travel agencies in the world and operates several different brands such as Travelocity Business®, lastminute.com, one of Europe’s leading brands and ZUJI, focused in the Asia-Pacific area. Based in Southlake, Texas, Travelocity registered USD 10,000 million sales in 2007. Recently, Travelocity launched its web site for Argentina (www.travelocity.com.ar) under the same philosophy of service, excellent prices, high security in all transactions and a wide brochure of options for travelers. Travelocity belongs to Sabre Holdings Corporation, one of the main travel companies in the world.

About RIU Hotels & Resorts: The international RIU chain was founded by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family’s third generation. The company specializes in sun and sand holiday resorts and 50% of its establishments offer RIU’s acclaimed all-inclusive formula. With the inauguration of its first urban hotel in 2010, RIU widens its range of product with a new city hotel product line called RIU Plaza. RIU Hotels & Resorts now has more than 100 hotels in 21 countries which welcome over 2.9 million guests a year. RIU is currently the world’s 28th ranked chain (according to HOTELS magazine in 2009), one of the Caribbean’s most popular and the third largest in Spain by revenue and number of rooms.
For further information please visit: www.riu.com