It is a tool that serves both to manage scientific information about tourism in the city and to provide an analytical framework for public and private organizations in the sector, enabling them to make informed decisions based on solid scientific evidence.

The Antigua Guatemala Observatory is part of a network of tourism observatories that monitors the economic, environmental, and social impact of tourism at the destination level. This initiative is based on the long-standing commitment of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) to promote the sustainable and resilient growth of the sector through measurement and monitoring, supporting evidence-based tourism management.

The goal is to create a space for technical, intersectoral, and interdisciplinary analysis, where a group of individuals and/or entities are organized to monitor, measure, and verify the evolution of the tourism sector in the city of Antigua Guatemala.

The participation and interaction of the various sectors will be fundamental in generating information, disseminating it, and making decisions to build a sustainable destination.

Actions INGUAT has carried out in the construction of the Tourism Observatory project

• 2017: Participation in the 5th International Meeting of Sustainable Tourism Observatories in Dolores, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, where a cooperation agreement was signed with the Guanajuato Tourism Observatory. Various training sessions have already been received, both in person and virtually.

• 2018: Participation in the 6th International Meeting of Sustainable Tourism Observatories in Silao, Guanajuato.

• 2019: Participation in the 7th International Meeting of Sustainable Tourism Observatories in León, Guanajuato. Participation in the annual meeting of the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) in Madrid, Spain.

Internally, working sessions have been held to define the various indicators required by the observatory: demand and supply of tourism, sustainability, and governance, among others.

Proposed Dimensions or Indicators

Initially, 4 dimensions and 22 indicators are proposed:

• Destination Management:

  • Registration of the influx of national and international visitors to each historical monument or tourist attraction in the destination.

  • Registration of participants in tourism awareness activities in the destination.

  • Number of visitors, broken down by country of residence, who visit historical monuments and tourist attractions in the destination.

• Inclusive Economy:

  • Percentage of visitors intending to return to the destination.

  • Annual index of new tourism business openings.

  • Number of non-resident visitors to the destination.

  • Average daily spend of visitors.

  • Hotel arrivals from 1 to 5 stars.

  • Percentage of average stay.

  • Annual registration of the contribution of the GDP from temporary accommodation services and food and beverage preparation to the tertiary sector GDP of the destination.

  • Number of men and women employed in the tourism sector compared to the total population of the destination.

  • Economic impact generated by the number of visitors arriving at the destination.

• Society and Culture:

  • Registration of the influx of national and international visitors to each historical monument or tourist attraction in the destination.

  • Registration of participants in tourism awareness activities in the destination.

  • Number of visitors, broken down by country of residence, who visit historical monuments and tourist attractions in the destination.

• Environment:

  • Registration of the carbon footprint generated by the number of visitors to events in the destination.

  • Solid waste generation in the tourist destination.

  • Air quality in the tourist destination.

  • Water consumption in the tourist destination.

Other proposed indicators:

• Trade balance

• Tourism balance

• Consumer confidence index

• Average exchange rate

• Inflation

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

• Tourism GDP

• Global economic activity index

• Total global index

• Tertiary sector index

• Aggregate index of revenue from non-financial private service provision

• Aggregate income index

• Domestic tourism consumption

Process to be admitted into the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories

To be admitted into the INSTO network, a registration process began in January 2019 with the submission of the application form, the destination profile, and the KML file. A request for hosting the observatory was made for INSTO's acceptance.

Between January and February 2019, support letters and the preliminary destination study were submitted. By March, the documents were sent to the WTO for approval and review. INSTO's acceptance was confirmed in May.

Currently, work is being done on integrating the information to publish it on a specific portal.