Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - At the 22nd Florida-Carribean Cruise Association (FCCA) Conference held in Cozumel last week, Jalisco State Tourism Secretary, Enrique Ramos Flores, announced that the current state administration and private entrepreneurs are working together to create new attractions that will lure more cruise ships to Vallarta.

Nearly 1000 cruise tourism stakeholders - from tour operators and taxi drivers to port authorities and ministries of tourism - along with 100 cruise executives, attended the Conference & Trade Show to meet with key industry players, analyze trends and discuss current issues.

Puerto Vallarta has been gaining ground in the international cruise industry in recent years, and this year is no exception with 400,000 cruise passenger arrivals to date, as compared to only 156,000 cruisers in 2013.

During the FCCA conference, the Tourism Secretary said that the State is committed to attracting more ships to the Banderas Bay area by diversifying the entertainment and cultural attractions that Puerto Vallarta has to offer.

With that, he presented blueprints for the modernization and expansion of Puerto Vallarta's maritime terminal, explaining that it will be reconstructed as an entertainment complex to include a new Tequila Museum and the long-anticipated aquarium.

And while he did not provide details of when the construction of these projects would begin, Ramos Flores stressed that the goal is to have new attractions "that draw the attention of the Caribbean cruise lines that visit various ports on the Mexican Pacific."

He stressed that this meeting was attended by the vice presidents of all the shipping companies that sail near Puerto Vallarta. "These additions to PV's Maritime Terminal certainly triggered an increase in cruise ship companies' interest in sailing to this destination," the Tourism Secretary said.