Fresh off a record-breaking year of visitation, the Mexico Tourism Board is rolling out a new marketing initiative, "'Viajemos Todos por México," (Let's All Travel Across Mexico), with the aim of attracting many of the 35 million Americans who identify as being of Mexican descent.
The campaign, which celebrates Mexico's beauty and its cultural and natural wonders, is designed to remind Mexican-Americans that those treasures belong to them.
"Our mission is to ensure that Mexico continues to sustain its track record of above-industry average growth for many years to come, and this includes seeking new ways to engage specific markets and audience segments that present opportunities for the industry," said Enrique de la Madrid, Mexico's Secretary of Tourism.
"Mexico is known for being one of the friendliest places in the world for visitors, and as part of our ongoing efforts to invite everyone to visit Mexico in 2018, we extend this invitation to Mexican-Americans, a group who comprises the majority of the 11 percent of the U.S. population who identifies as Hispanic. They travel internationally a great deal, and we want to inspire them to come, learn more about their heritage, and see all that Mexico has to offer."
The initiative was first announced on Tuesday at an event in Los Angeles hosted by de la Madrid, in partnership with the Mexico Tourism Board CEO Hector Flores and Carlos Garcia de Alba, the Consul General of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles.
The day-long series of events included a reception which drew more than 300 attendees, including American and Mexican tourism companies, community and industry leaders, media and other influencers in the Mexican-American and tourism community.
The campaign will showcase more than 200 Mexican destinations through "Mexican Routes" guides and offers travelers more than 1,000 tourism packages to Mexico, many of which will include discounts of up to 60 percent depending on the season.
An integral component of the campaign will be promoting Mexico's "Pueblos Magicos," or specially designated towns around the country that provide a "magical" experience to visitors. Although there are currently 111 of these so-designated towns, de la Madrid hinted that Mexico hoped to up that number to 120 by the end of the year.
"Viajemos Todos por México," started as a national campaign in 2016, and was designed to encourage Mexican residents to travel more within their own country, especially during the off-season.
The program was a great success, with local tour operators developing innovative packages and programs, that began to draw interest from the United States, leading the Mexico Tourism Board to officially expand the program.
"From the beginning, we always thought about expanding this program into the United States," said de la Madrid.
Mexican-Americans are an attractive audience segment for the Mexico Tourism Board, as they tend to travel internationally about 2.5 times more than the average American. Mexico is hoping to capture more of that market, as it encourages Mexican-Americans to visit family or friends in Mexico while also discovering and reconnecting with their heritage.
The tourism secretary and Mexico Tourism Board will also host promotional events for the campaign in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Miami, but chose Los Angeles for the kick-off event, due to the large number of Mexican Americans living in the area.
"Most people of Mexican descent live in California," said Consul General Carlos Garcia de Alba. "And of the 58 counties in California, Los Angeles has by far the largest number of Mexican-Americans."
The "Viajemos Todos por México" initiative is a sub-component of the Mexico Tourism Board's larger, global "World of Its Own" campaign that launched last year, which focuses on personalizing marketing efforts by country and audience segment.
Mexico enjoyed a healthy surge of visitation in 2017. While final numbers are still being tallied, it is estimated that the number of air arrivals in Mexico from the U.S. grew by more than 9.6 over 2016. In total, a record-breaking 39.3 million international visitors traveled to Mexico in 2017, representing a 12 percent increase over the previous year. The tourism board recently announced it is hoping to welcome 50 million visitors by 2021.
Previously, the Mexico Tourism Board has also announced it is planning to launch "Visit Mexico University" to better help travel agents sell the destination.
Travelers can talk to their local travel agent and plan trips on the "Viajemos Todos por México" digital platform, which is available in English and Spanish, at viajemostodospormexico.com.
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