Mexico Tourist Board's Rodrigo Esponda, Director for Canada; Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, CEO; Cesar Mendoza, Director for Western Canada; Gerardo Llanes, CMO & Manuel Montelongo, Director for Quebec
Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, CEO, Mexico Tourism Board chats with Chris Robinson from the Chris Robinson Travel Show
A small part of the scrumptious-looking breakfast
It should be news to nobody that Canadians have been having a steamy love affair with Mexico for many years. In fact, Mexico has consistently been our #1 destination to visit (outside of the United States), since 2005 – nearly a decade.
This long-term relationship has of course been driven by our demand for warmth and vitamin D during the cold winter months, a phenomenon that’s long been encouraged by the charter airlines and major tour operators.
However, Mexico is a large and diverse country, and travellers sticking to the amazing beaches and resorts are missing out on most of what makes it special. This has never been lost on Rodrigo Esponda, Director for Canada and rest of the folks at Mexico Tourist Board, who recently held a round-table discussion at Toronto’s Park Hyatt hotel to discuss Mexico’s newest branding campaign.
Apparently everyone else ate before arriving at the meeting, so it was more talk and less tuck than I was expecting, but it was fascinating nonetheless! The discussion, led by Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board, centred around the launch of Mexico’s newest branding initiative, entitled “Live It To Believe It”. This $6 million dollar investment has already been well received, earning several marketing awards in the United States and heaps of praise from the Canadian travel industry.
The campaign is both visually stunning and right on target. Our preview included the chance to watch several short, inspirational videos showcasing Mexico City, Los Cabos, Yucatan and Vallarta-Nayarit. These beautifully produced spots demonstrate a different side of Mexico – one where a discerning consumer will feel right at home – whether they’re swinging a club on a top-notch golf course, walking through a world class museum, dancing the night away at a sophisticated nightclub or simply sitting at a local café watching the world go by.
The talk about the new campaign wasn’t entirely limited to the praise-worthy videos though. As travel media, it was also important to talk about how we travel agents can help to make these dreams a reality – especially since we’ve been conditioned for so many years to sell simple beach packages. Some of the larger operators (including Sunwing and Air Transat) are offering superb holidays outside of the resort destinations and there are smaller operators with boutique hotels and inclusions too.
This “beyond the beach” thinking is something the Mexico Tourism Board is keen to encourage, and to that end they have recently launched a Mexico Specialist program for Canadian travel agents. The course should take approximately 2.5 hours, earns 100 credits towards CITC designation and will provide the tools agents need to sell Mexico (on – or off! – the beaten path).
Of course, no agent specialist program can answer every question or fulfill every request, and that’s where Rodrigo Esponda comes in. As he puts it, he wants his office to be the “411 for Canadian Travel agents” and encourages agents to get in touch if they have any questions or requests that his team may be able to help with. You can reach Rodrigo at responda@visitmexico.com. And, next time someone calls asking to go to Mexico, perhaps just mention that there are loads of things to discover outside of the resort, too – like finding a great spot for breakfast!
