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 Introduction - Alliances & Investments - Expanding frontiers - Free market -
Telecom and transport - Banking - Energy sector - Tourism - States of Opportunities -
Agro Industry - Multinationals - Industrial States 
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Interview with
Elias Rivas Torres,
Under-secretary for Tourism Promotion
February 2000
| What are the infrastructure and the services for your products within the sector?
Right now there are 400 thousand hotel rooms in Mexico, all around the country. We have a certification system for the quality of both, the services and the infrastructure in the sector. This system works through stars and diamonds corresponding to the quality of the infrastructure and that of the services respectively. The scale goes from one to five. The evaluation is made through a non-profitable company that receives all hotels and establishments that want to be certified; the results are communicated throughout an international publication. Since 1982 the Minister of Tourism lost his capacity to make this kinds of evaluations, and now everything is done voluntarily; it is not an obligation for establishments to be certified in order to be functional.
How does qualifications affect the major tourist segments?
We have had some bad experiences because reservations can be made from outside the country to hotels announced as holding more stars or diamonds than they actually do; the surprises can be very unpleasant. This is not good for the country because then tourists do not come back, that is why it is so important for us to have and independent company doing the evaluations.
What are the most important products that you offer?
Biodiversity is one of our country’s biggest advantages in comparison to other destinations in the world. The same goes for our climate; while at this time of the year in most countries temperatures are low, in Mexico you can find a nice and tempered climate. We have a great entertainment infrastructure like high quality golf courses made by great designers, marinas, thematic parks like Xcaret, and almost everything but snow.
What is the profile of the tourist in Mexico?
Our principal market for foreign visitors is North America; almost 87% of international tourists come from there. Our country does not have enough money for the promotion of all its tourist destinations, last year we spent only 20 million dollars for the whole promotion, that in comparison of what other countries dedicate to this task; like Puerto Rico that uses annually around 75 million dollars, is almost non-existent. The budget difference for promotion is very big compared to that of other countries that occupy lower levels in the world ranking of tourist’s securing, considering that we received 20 million and 216 thousand foreign visitors last year.
As a tourist or business traveler, why should I choose Mexico?
Our prices are very competitive in relation to those of our competitors in the Caribbean. Our attractions and services complement each other; both are great. For instance in Cancun you can find from archeological sites to scuba diving or bicycle tours. We are very competitive in both, prices and services.
Do you have adjusted your tourist strategies to your neighboring countries?
We have a very special communication program, mostly in terms of air traffic. TWA has just opened a daily flight from New York to Cancun, as well as COPA from Panama. So our market is expanding continuously to every coin of the world.
What is your strategy for looking for investment?
We are investing a lot in communication infrastructure such as roads, highways and airports, which by the way are being privatized. We are working to attract foreign investment in regions as the Riviera Maya where the people form the Baleares will invest over 1 billion dollars. And they are not the only ones interested in coming to Mexico to invest. We have a portfolio of investment projects that identifies throughout the country attractive opportunities that mean in terms of money around 6 billion dollars. The projects include the making of more hotels, thematic parks, golf courses, restaurants, etc. This is extra form all the work and opportunities there are left as far as building infrastructure is concerned.
Can you tell us about those areas that you have already identified?
In fact all these projects are located in areas that already exist, not in new areas that we would be developing. This year we will be having three times more money than we did last year for promotion, and this will be useful to attract potential investors who know what we can do with 20 millions and imagine what we will do with 60.
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Is Mexico in the position of inviting all the people that right now are interested in investing here?
Sure! Since the signature of NAFTA, direct foreign investment has passed from 4 billion USD to 11 billion. This means that we are ready, so the future with this agreement with Europe cannot mean nothing else but more money, more direct investment.
What can you tell us about your environmental preservation programs?
Right now we have a problem in the Riviera Maya because some people are against the construction of a new hotel. This means that we are very concerned about the preservation of our natural environment, and investors coming to Mexico have to know that they have to adjust their projects to all of our preservation regulations.
What would you like seeing within the sector in the next five years?
I would like to get each day better tourists. With this I mean not only that we would really like tourist with a greater purchasing power, but also tourists conscious about the preservation and the respect of our natural environment and resources.
For how long have you been in this position?
For three months.
Before your time is over in this position, what would you say are your three major
goals?
As far as promotion is concerned I want to make a bigger segmentation of our markets through our campaigns. I want to get not only the families. Normally our campaigns have in view the school vacations, which means that they are mostly addressed to families. But there are a lot of other groups to whom we should address specific tourist programs because they do not have a vacation season, they can travel all year. Before we have not had the money to reach those markets, but we will do it in the future.
What do you think is the best way to communicate this to all of these groups?
Not through a single campaign, we need to offer them something to do. We are prepared for that. We have to work in order to no only reach new markets, but also attract more tourists from already known markets. For instance, last year the US received 5 million of Japanese tourists, and we received only 40 thousand. The difference is just big, so we are discussing some arrangements with two operators, mainly in the US, to offer Mexico as an extension of Japanese trips. If a Japanese is going to stay seven days in Orlando, he can easily come and spend 3 wonderful days in Cancun, or in Mexico City. So with this we can get each day more Asian visitors.
How do you think the international community perceives your tourist packages?
In many markets there is very little knowledge about Mexico, so the great challenge is to make them know about us. For the first time in many years we have the financial capacity of promoting Mexican tourist products worldwide, and we are going to do so. For many people Mexico is a very cheap and folkloric place. Only very small amounts of people are really interested in Mexico’s cultural aspects that are widely spread in all areas. For instance last year an international gastronomic publication selected the world’s three most important gastronomic fountains. Mexico was second, just between the Mediterranean region and China. This gives us a great opportunity to capitalize one of our major cultural aspects. Mexico has changed so much. It s very important for us that you understand the multi destination and multi purpose aspect of Mexican tourist attractions. Our slogan is "for any reason, any season".
What is your final message to our readers?
Mexico has a lot of things to offer no only for tourists, bur also for business travelers. We have all the new technology in telecommunications and services that will make your working stay a very pleasant one. |
© World INvestment NEws, 2000.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Mexico published in Forbes Global.
July 3rd 2000 Issue.
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MEXICO
