The Mexican government is planning to use the so-called Mayan prophecies to lure tourists into the country in 2012, Tourism Minister Gloria Guevara said.
The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012, which is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar.
“Many foreign tourists would like to be in Mexico on that day and check the correctness of Mayan prophecies personally, and we are ready to satisfy their curiosity,” Guevara told reporters on Friday.
The minister said that Mexico would host a variety of events around this date to familiarize the tourists with Mayan history and culture.
The Mayan calendar, created about 4,000 years ago, has proven to be one of the most accurate time keeping systems known to human kind.
Countless theories about what is supposed to happen in 2012 are ranging from utter annihilation of the Earth to total enlightenment and “spiritual rebirth.”
Scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of a catastrophe in 2012.
They say that predictions of impending “doomsday” are not found in any of the existing classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar “ends” in 2012 misrepresents Maya history.
According to UN data, Mexico registered about 22 million foreign tourists in 2009, making it the 10th most visited country in the world.
MEXICO, March 19 (RIA Novosti)