by Donald Wood
Last updated: 3:10 PM ET, Wed March 18, 2020
Mexican tourism officials are asking the government for permission to use the "Mexico" brand legally as part of their campaigns to draw in new visitors.
According to Mexico News Daily, Mexican Federation of Tourism Associations (Fematur) president Jorge Hernandez said the use of the word "Mexico" in tourism branding should be allowed to continue or other countries competing for arrivals will benefit from the lack of clarity.
Hernandez said the government and the private sector must come to terms on an agreement allowing travel advisors and companies to use the trademarked "Mexico" brand legally. The term was first used 15 years ago as a way to promote the country's identity.
When Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office, he disbanded ProMexico and the Tourism Promotion Council, which effectively killed off the "Mexico" brand.
"You can't build [a brand] in one administration; that's one of the mistakes we make as a country," MBLM México CEO Eduardo Calderon said in a statement. "We think that we can change the identity of destinations at every whim of new administrations. When we look at the identities of traditionally tourism-oriented countries such as Spain, France and Italy, they continue to maintain many of the components they had in their previous brands."
Hernandez revealed that when the "Mexico" brand was in use by tourism agencies, international tourist numbers doubled from 20 million in 2004 to more than 40 million in 2018. The trademark is just one of the several scrapped campaigns and slogans tourism officials want back.
Tourism insiders in Mexico are adamant the brand belongs to the people and shouldn't be trademarked and restricted by the government.
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