Business

The business of paradise
Notes on the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo Tourism Agenda 2006
By Catherine Krantz

On February 9, Guerrero Governor Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo came to Ixtapa to present the state tourism agenda for 2006, and later that same week the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo Office of Visitors and Conventions (OCV) presented their marketing plan for 2006 as well. The governor introduced a new program called Guerrero Brilla, Guerrero Shines, that brings together state monies with that of private investors and is in conjunction with Televisa. 45 million pesos has been set aside for the use of Ixtapa-Zihautanejo and would bring six grand events to our destination, among them a Golf Tournament, a Triathalon, a Gala Concert and a Beach Concert with some famous Mexican performers, all to be televised by Televisa. The OCV presentation the next day brought out the year-end statistics for Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Not only do they look good but they can give us a clearer idea of where we are going.

The demographics of our tourism are changing. Over the past five years the percentage of international tourism (tourists coming from outside Mexico: the USA, Canada, Latin America and Europe) has dropped. Whereas we were once a destination that was comprised of nearly 40+% foreign tourism, a significantly large number for a Mexican beach destination, we are now at about 34% and dropping, with Mexican National tourism accounting for upwards of 65% of the visitors we receive each year. 2005 had 326,815 National tourists arriving by plane and 278,015 International tourists arriving by plane. Car and bus arrivals are harder to calculate but those numbers are hugely dominated by national tourism and with the new highway from Morelia will increasingly constitute larger and larger percentages of our tourism. In the most recent year, Americans accounted for 29.14% of the tourism, Canadians 5.20%, Europeans .51%, and the rest of the world .31%, with national tourism accounting for the lion’s share at 64.84%.

Hotel occupancy rates of 2004 and 2005 in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo were the highest in the past 15 years, and were an over 15% increase from the lowest year in the past decade, which was 2001. They show a steady increase over time and could hint at a slow and steady growth. Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo is ranked in the Top 10 for highest hotel occupancy rates in Mexico, at number eight. We are also in the top 10 for highest hotel occupancy rates for beach destinations, at number six. Puerto Vallarta-area resorts top both lists for highest occupancies. Of note: the new highway to Morelia puts us in equal distance from Guadalajara (Mexico’s second largest city) as Puerto Vallarta and we could be giving them some competition, hopefully some strong marketing will push us in Guadalajara. That could be one way to meet the OCV’s mission to make Ixtapa-Zihautanajo the best beach destination in Mexico, for national tourism.

Of international tourism Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo OCV director, Jose Luis Arriaga stated “We want the United States and Canada to think of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo first for their next vacation,” and they have come up with six main selling points of our destination: Family, Fishing, Golf, Romance, Adventure and Conventions. To push these reasons to visit and to attract foreign and luxury visitors from the US and Canada, the OCV has been attending travel shows and implementing strategic alliances across North America and have bumped up their presence in North American magazines. Next in their sights are European travelers.

The number of airlines servicing Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo has also increased this year, adding two new carriers, one national: A Volar out of Tijuana and one international: Delta out of Atlanta. Commercial Airlines now servicing Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo are: Aeromexico (origin: D.F), Mexicana & Mexican Click (D.F.), Magnicharter (D.F., Guadalajara, & Monterrey), Alaska Airlines (Los Angeles & San Francisco), American (Dallas), America West (Phoenix), Continental (Houston), Frontier (Denver), United (Denver & Los Angeles), and newly added Delta (Atlanta), and A Volar (Tijuana). Charter Airlines that service our destination are: Air Canada (Origin: Calgary), Vacances Air (Vancouver), Transat (Toronto), Tour Mont Royal (Montreal), Apple Vacations (Chicago, Denver & Minneapolis), MLT (Minneapolis & Milwaukee) and Northwest (Detroit & Minneapolis).

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