Guanajuato, Gto., March 31, 2017. The University of Guanajuato (UG) has a Touristic Observatory operated in its totality by students of the major in Touristic Resources Management of the Division of Economic-Administrative Sciences of Campus Guanajuato, under the direction of scholars from this house of studies.

Since January 2009, when this space was created, more than 125 students from such degree have given the task to consolidate this self-managing space, where, among other activities, they make applied and documentary research.

Dr. José Eduardo Vidaurri Aréchiga, professor, researcher and founder of the Touristic Observatory of Guanajuato (OTUG) commented that for the Jan-Jun 2017 term, they have the collaboration of 25 students, who daily program and make their activities.

He explained that OTUG, seeks to collaborate so the students may have a more complete formation, "within the permanent projects of the Touristic Observatory, we have the Seminar of Touristic Studies made eight years ago, to which hundreds of students have attended, among them we found several seeds, that awaken the enthusiasm to research and today have translated into theses."

Also, he highlighted that throughout the years they have formed a documentary fund with electronic magazines and a specialized library fund in tourism topics.

Besides working in a developing project of productive activities, they have a culinary atlas of the state of Guanajuato which allows to document the regional cuisine by zones and ingredients, that has given place to set a value to the traditional cuisine as a priority touristic resource.

Vidaurri-Aréchiga, shared that every week, there is a touristic bulletin and promotes an ecotourism workshop where they divulge the generation of touristic activities in natural protected areas in Xichú, Victoria and Tierra Blanca.

Also, he mentioned, "There is a project to activate Ixtla, an Otomi town located in Apaseo el Grande and seeks to use the 26 worshipping chapels in the zone to boost the touristic activity."

For María José Álvarez, student of the 8th semester of the major in Touristic Resource Management; who has been collaborating with the observatory for a year and a half; participating in this kind of activities, "gives the opportunity to the students to involve in several areas of the touristic surroundings and have a critical view and widen their vision when they graduate."

Carlos Michell Luna, also a student in the 89th semester of the same major, is an operative support. He assured that, in OTUG, "there is desk work to go out and have field work which is diverse, and that allows us as students to find in the Touristic Observatory, a complement of what we learn in the classroom."