HUNDREDS of Mexican students have arrived in Bournemouth for the biggest-ever EF Inter Cultural Festival.

Around 800 young people and 75 teachers will spend two weeks in the town and will take part in a wide range of activities.

The 13- to 18-year-olds are students at some of Mexico’s most prestigious private colleges and are staying in seven hotels in the resort.

They arrived a week ago and enjoyed a civic welcome from Mayor of Bournemouth Cllr Phil Stanley-Watts at the Bournemouth International Centre.

The students took part in a debate about the world economic crisis and will attend a programme of English classes during their stay in the UK. Each college was allocated an adoptive country of the United Nations and represented that country’s position in the debate.

They will also enjoy educational visits to London, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The trip will be rounded off with a three-day tour to Paris which will include a visit to Disneyland Paris.

“The colleges will compete against each other in a spelling competition, a photo competition, a tourism exhibition and a dance contest,” said Steve Bates of the EF International Language School in Bournemouth.

“This is the largest group ever to have studied at one of our schools.”