# Gloria Guevara

Gloria Guevara Manzo (born September 1, 1967) is a business executive and stateswoman. She was Secretary of Tourism for Mexico from March 10, 2010 to November 30, 2012.

## Biography

Guevara was born in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Anáhuac University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She has studied Marketing, General Management, Project Management, Leadership and other subjects at IPADE, George Washington University and other schools.

## Career

Guevara began her professional career at NCR Corporation in 1989 and worked in the IT industry in various roles, working for North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa regions.
Since 1995, Guevara has worked for the travel industry. She worked for Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Holdings for 15 years.
She moved Coral Gables Florida, where she had regional responsibilities and worked for the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and later held global responsibilities as vice president for Customer Solutions and Vendor Management in the Information Office in the Sabre headquarter in Southlake Texas.
Guevara was also the CEO of Sabre de Mexico, a joint venture between Aeromexico, Mexicana and Sabre holdings, where she was reporting to the board of directors.
Guevara was also special advisor on Government affairs in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is also part of the Future of Travel and Tourism Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, and the World Tourism Think Tank.

### Cabinet position

On March 10 of 2010, President Felipe Calderon appointed Gloria as the Secretary of Tourism. Two weeks after her appointment, she was also given the responsibility of overseeing the Mexico Tourism Board.
During her time in government Mexico faced the accumulated impact of the worst financial and economic crises, in addition to H1N1 flu.
Guevara played a key role in the launch of the Global Entry program in Mexico, making Mexico the first country in the world to implement this expedited customs and border control initiative.

### G20 and T20

During the T20 in Mérida in 2011, all leaders of Tourism from the G20 economies, UNWTO, WTTC, WEF, IATA and leaders gathered to discuss the impact in Tourism and the creation of jobs due to Travel Facilitation.
During her tenure, the travel and tourism sector was included in the G20 Leaders' Declaration in Mexico. For her work at G20, Guevara was invited to speak at the House of Commons in London during the dinner offered by PATA .
Throughout her career, Guevara has worked closely with global leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who attended the WTTC Global Summit in Cancun and participated in the G20 Summit in Los Cabos.

### World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)

Since 15 August 2017, Guevara has been the President and CEO of World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector. Guevara became the first woman and first Latina to lead the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) as President and CEO.
Among her works at WTTC was the development and implementation of the Safe Travels Protocols, a set of global health and safety guidelines that enabled the reopening of the tourism sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. These protocols were adopted by more than 400 destinations worldwide, providing a framework for safe traveland helping to restore confidence in the industry. Despite their significance, these contributions were not prominently highlighted in official records.

### Ministry of Tourism, Saudi Arabia (2021–2024)

During her tenure as Senior Special Advisor to the Ministry of Tourism (Saudi Arabia),it achieves milestones in attracting international visitors. The number of international tourists surged from 3.5 million in 2021 to 27 million in 2023. This growth was fueled by strategic initiatives to tap into new source markets, including China and India, which are now among the top five markets for Saudi tourism.. To accommodate the rapid influx of visitors, Saudi Arabia has committed to expanding its hospitality infrastructure, with plans to open 320,000 new hotel rooms by the end of the decade.
In addition to infrastructure development, Guevara played a key role in the establishment of Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s new national carrier. In this role, she contributed to the implementation of Vision 2030. Guevara played a role in organizing the WTTC Global Summit in Riyadh in November 2022. She left her position in July 2024.