JOSEFINA RODRÍGUEZ ZAMORA — Mexico
She made Tlaxcala — Mexico’s smallest, most overlooked state — a destination people actually wanted to visit. Then President Sheinbaum handed her the sixth most visited country on earth. She is 36 years old, a former restaurateur, and arguably the most creative tourism mind in Latin America right now.
MARÍA DEL SOL VELÁSQUEZ GARCÍA — Peru
She never needed an appointment from above. She built her authority from within — spending 15 years climbing every role PromPerú offers until the institution and the strategist became one. The woman who architected Peru’s tourism identity is now the one delivering it to the world.
GLORIA DE LEÓN — Panama
She inherited unpaid accounts, a stalled loan, and a country the world underestimated. Eighteen months later, Panama crossed three million visitors and $6.5 billion in tourism revenue. The brand builder who turned a house in disarray into a destination on the rise.
PABLO MENONI — Uruguay.
An electrical engineer who built fiber optic networks and transport systems before anyone called him Minister. Now he is building something more elusive — desire for a small, extraordinary country between two giants that the world has barely begun to discover.
CARMEN CECILIA CABALLERO — Colombia.
A dentist from Santa Marta. A diplomat in Seville. A Gold Lion winner at Cannes. Carmen Caballero has rebuilt Colombia’s image to the world with creativity, conviction, and campaigns that moved millions. This is how you make a country irresistible.