The Mexican government and Google Mexico on Tuesday signed an agreement on providing Google with Mexico’s cultural heritage information to help revive tourism.

Under their arrangement, the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH) will provide photographs, videos and other information to Google Mexico. INAH will also provide maps and floor plans for its museums, archeological areas and historical monuments.

Google Maps will offer visitors a tour guide to take them to different cultural destinations in Mexico.

John Farrel, head of Google Mexico, said that before deciding to buy or travel, people often access the Internet to get information, so this program will make tours in Mexico convenient and accessible.

In Mexico, some 27 million people or 85 percent of Mexico’s Internet population, use Google’s tools.

Mexican government has taken concrete steps to make it easier for Chinese citizens to visit Mexico, but major improvement is still needed, a senior tourism official said Thursday.

Mexico has scrapped visa requirement for Chinese nationals living in Macao and allowed Mexican consulates in China to process visa applications, said Alejandro Rojas, head of Mexico City’s Tourism Department.

It has also extended visas for both tourist and business visitors to a maximum term of 10 years and a maximum 180 days for the visa holders to stay in Mexico, said the Mexican official.

In order to promote Mexican tourism, the Mexican government has eased visa restrictions for technicians and business people from other parts of China, and put up signs in Chinese at international airports in Tijuana and Mexico City, in addition to training 16 Chinese-speaking staff members, Rojas said.

Rojas added that the achievements are the results of the efforts by Mexico’s National Migration Agency during the first Mexico-China International Tourism Congress, which was held on March 18-22 in Mexico City. Read the full story