Diplomatic missions will now promote Mexico

What’s next?

IAN STALKER

(Photo above: The tourism board’s Cesar Mendoza (l) hosted Quintana Roo governor Carlos Joaquin in Toronto recently.)

The longtime director of the Mexico Tourism Board’s Toronto office has offered a parting thank you to the travel trade for its support, as Mexico’s new government is undertaking a radically different approach to tourism promotion.

The Toronto office closed at the end of February, with the Mexican government planning to turn tourism promotion responsibilities over to its diplomatic missions. Plans call for the closing of virtually all foreign tourism offices, including ones in Montreal and Vancouver.

Mexico has had a stand-alone Toronto tourism office for over 50 years.

“A great ride”
“It’s been a great ride,” said Cesar Mendoza, current director of the Toronto office, who had held the post since 2010. “I got to know a lot of people and have made some very good friends.

“In my heart, I will always be a promoter of Mexico.”

Mendoza has floated the idea of remaining in Toronto, continuing to work in the tourism industry, citing among other things his knowledge of Mexico’s tourism attributes.

Mendoza recently hosted the governor of Quintana Roo, who noted the Mexico Tourism Board has long been touting different parts of Mexico to foreign travellers.

New challenges
Carlos Joaquin – whose jurisdiction is home to such hugely popular retreats as Cancun and the Maya Riviera – said the closures will create challenges for Mexican tourist destinations, with tourism board offices long having promoted all of the country to tourists.

Joaquin noted that Quintana Roo last year created its own tourist board, telling international tourists about attributes that include the state’s famed beaches, nature and its Mayan heritage, demonstrated in part by its many archeological sites.

Also weighing in on the office closings in this country and elsewhere was Piquis Rochin of the Acapulco Destination Marketing Office.

“A big mistake”
“Without the Mexico Tourism Board offices, it is going to be very hard for most of the destinations to follow the continuation of the promotional activities that we all did together, hand by hand,” said Rochin, who has frequently visited this country with other Acapulco tourist board colleagues on promotions Acapulco worked on with the Mexico Tourism Board.

“We all were very coordinated in all our actions, being that we were working with professional experts, such as all the directors of the MTB offices and their staffs. I am a firm believer that the closure is a big mistake,” he stated.

There hasn’t been any immediate word from the Mexican embassy and consulates in Canada on how they plan to fulfill their new mandate.