Can you give us an insight of today's tourism industry in Jalisco?
Jalisco is one of the most varied states in terms of tourist offer in Mexico. We have the second most important tourist destination in the country: Puerto Vallarta. There you can find excellent hotels and resorts, golf courts, beautiful marinas, the best restaurants, everything that will make you enjoy your stay. We have over 200 km of pristine beaches were there are almost no tourist developments; you can walk 80 km and find not even a soul. For the tourist promotion we have both well-developed and low-density tourist areas. We have also small towns for the rest of the tourism. Guadalajara, far from the beaches, has a wonderful colonial downtown with impressive buildings that are even, some of them, declared as human heritage by the UNESCO. In Guadalajara there is also the largest and most important Mexican convention center. The capital of the state can be promoted for both, business people and tourists. Tourists will be pleased to se the metropolitan area with its zoological gardens, its arts, decoration and handcraft centers located in Tlaquepaque and Tonala. Then we have the Chapala Lake were you can find the largest community of retired people outside the US. We have mountains, beautiful forests, hidden towns like Tapalpa were you could go and practice some ecological and adventure sports. Finally we have a lot of beautiful colonial cities in the northern part of the state. All of this makes it easy to promote the state because of the numerous markets we can focus on. One particular aspect of Jalisco is the religious devotion that it provokes in people with its three Virgins, that of San Juan de los Lagos, that of Zapopan, and the one in Talpa. This three cities attract people by millions, they all come to pray to the Virgins feet, and of course they all need places to stay and to visit; this phenomenon could be treated as religious tourism. Jalisco is the place were most of the traditions that made Mexico famous all around the world were born. Among these there are the mariachis, the charros and the typical Mexican rodeos, and of course tequila, which recently got its origin denomination. Our state is the most Mexican state, and this administration has emphasized that aspect with the slogan "Jalisco is Mexico". The essence of the whole country is located in Jalisco.
¿What is your administration doing in order to boost Jalisco's most representative tourist areas?
When we promote the state, we promote investment also. This has to be different for every specific area. Puerto Vallarta needs 200 to 400 hotel rooms, but instead of promoting a sole investment that would embrace all those hotel rooms, we promote several small investments. Why? People that come to Jalisco's tourist areas belong to different household income groups. For example, people that visit Jalisco's religious centers mostly belong to a low-income group, they can not pay 50 dollars for a hotel room. So every single development has to be adapted to the clients needs and possibilities. In Chapala, at the lake we are mainly focused on promoting the construction of villas for retired people, the same in the mountain areas of the state where instead of building a great hotel we build cottages. In the southern beaches, where density is very low, the focus has to be different, and so the promotion, which has to be directed to other kind of investors. We depend also on present infrastructure. If there are no roads, or if there is not a landing point near the place were the development is mean to be, then it will not be easy to promote the area. Tourism is one of the sectors that can not exist on its own. It depends on other sectors, mostly infrastructure.
¿Does the present infrastructure match the requirements of the tourism industry? ¿What are the main priorities in this respect?
Generally speaking, we have the right infrastructure, but no matter what you have, you will always be needing more. We have an excellent toll road from here to Puerto Vallarta, but there 80 km missing to be completed. We can not access to the Bajio market through that road. Nevertheless Vallarta is growing, investments are growing, we are promoting it in the US and Canada. We need more accesses from other parts of the state to the beach areas in order to make them all apt to promotion. We are working hard, we always try to find the best solutions to the critical problems.
¿What makes Vallarta unique, not only in Mexico but in Latin America?
Puerto Vallarta is the only typical Mexican town with a beach. Cancun is impressive, but it is not really Mexican, there are beaches and developments similar to those in Cancun that could be found in Miami and you would not notice a big difference. Vallarta is different, it combines all the really traditional Mexican style with the modern aspects of life. That is why we have the incredible marina area. You will find the best from both worlds. Not even do Acapulco or Mazatlan have the charm that Vallarta has. Vallarta, the town, was growing, and suddenly investors came and built the marina in Vallarta's northern part. This created a new growing area, where big hotels settled down respecting older constructions. That was crucial to maintain the equilibrium I have been talking about.
¿What are today's most remarkable investment projects in Jalisco?
For the moment the are no big investment projects. There have been some in recent years. Investments have been flowing constantly in all areas, but they do not come massively, instead those investments are used to give more value to the present developments. There is one big hotel under construction right now, but it is just another hotel in a destination that has 15000 hotel rooms already. For the religious areas there are 4 or 5 hotels being built that have between 20 and 40 rooms. The same is happening in the Chapala region and in the mountains with the villas and the cottages. Guadalajara's infrastructure development is not uniform along the times; there are periods when there is no construction and suddenly comes a great period of activity. Right now we do not have anything spectacular, but every year tourists keep coming, everything gets better, and money is spent.
¿What are the state's plans for the 200 km of beaches that have not been developed yet?
We have projects that will direct money to those
areas. However, the conditions are very particular
given the very low population density and so the
type of investment, which is very special too. It
will take many years to make those areas profitable.
We know the potential, nevertheless it will take
time. Many investors are interested, but we all
have to be clear about what we want. |
¿What are the markets you are targeting as far as the conference and exhibition centers are concerned?
There is a board the manages that sector. The OBC, ExpoGuadalajara and the Secretariat of Tourism are altogether doing the promotion. We decide when it is convenient to do international promotion and when it is the time to focus on the domestic market. We attend major conventions in other countries to promote Guadalajara itself. We work with the private sector no matter which area is to be promoted. ExpoGuadalajara is a trust group formed by the municipalities, the state government and five big chambers of commerce. We are planning right now the construction of two more convention centers in the area of Guadalajara. In the future this capital will be Mexico's most important convention and exhibition center.
¿How are you promoting Jalisco's tourist offer in the Asian markets?
This administration has visited Asia every year, since the very beginning. Together with the governor we have promoted all kind of investments from that part of the world. We have worked specially with Asian airlines and travel agencies. It is a very difficult market, we have not been very successful, even if Asians are very interested in Mexico. I am about to make a trip to Singapore were some tourism developers showed an specific interest in the Vallarta area, but I have to wait for the governor to give his authorization. But it is not that easy. I went once to Australia to promote Guadalajara for a big medical convention, but we lost it against Egypt. It is not easy because of the distances. Japanese can go to Hawaii where they can find everything, where everyone knows how to treat them; why coming all the way to Guadalajara?
¿What is the prevailing nationality of Jalisco's visitors?
The US in the first place. 80% of the tourists we receive annually come from there. Then Europe, mostly Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and England. We have not been able to reach Spain and Italy for two reasons. First, Spanish and Italian corporations own the planes, the hotels and the travel agencies, and their hotels are located in Cancun. We have just one Spanish hotel in Vallarta, which is not enough to convince operators to come here. Another problem is that there are no direct connections from Cancun or Merida to Guadalajara; all flights stop in Mexico City. This makes the trip very tiring, almost impossible if you come from Europe. The time of arrival in Mexico City is also a problem, because travelers are obliged to stay over night there waiting to make the connection to Guadalajara. We have not been able to convince the authorities about these problems. The same happens with the South American travelers that would love to visit Puerto Vallarta but do not find the right transportation. Airlines do not find this destination profitable. It always ends as a price matter with this markets.
¿Do Vallarta's visitors stay there only, or do they show interest for the other destinations we have been talking about?
Visitors are interested in the state as a whole, mostly European and South American tourists who always plan to stay more than a week. After relaxing in Vallarta for a few days, they go to the central areas of the state where they can amuse themselves and learn about Mexican culture. There are several agencies in Vallarta that promote trips to Tequila or to the Sierra to meet the Huicholes for example, and their service is excellent.
¿To what extent is Jalisco's tourist sector benefiting from the industrial development that we have witnessed over the last few years?
I do not have the information of the direct impact, but it is sure that there has to be one. There is a link, even if it is not registered.
¿What have been your major achievements as Jalisco's Secretary of Tourism, and how do you think this sector will be evolving in the next years?
My job is a very nice one. I was raised in the private sector, I have always been a businessman and that is how I have been working in the Secretariat. Given that politics are not that much involved within this sector, I find it easy to do my work. Very easily I contacted all hotel associations and started an umbrella campaign under the slogan "Jalisco is Mexico". The promotion of the state was then standardized and the tutti-frutti strategy of past administrations was left aside. Because of its achievements, the working spirit of this administration will be respected by the following ones. Generally when a new working team arrives in town, all past ideas are left to oblivion, but we know that this administration has settled down the foundations for what will come. The tourist sector will continue growing. The governor has supported us since the very beginning. Now this secretariat has more freedom and resources to work with, and this will also continue. Jalisco has a very diversified economy and it is very important to maintain this trend in order to bring continuous prosperity to our state.
¿Do you think that the consensus attained between the government and the business community in Jalisco is a good example for other states?
Yes, I really think so. You mentioned Guanajuato, which is one of our bordering states. Well, both governments have been working together a lot because we have many things in common, besides belonging to the same political party. Both governments gave some important ministry and secretary posts to businessmen from the private sector, and it has worked indeed. No one thought that our party could run a state as Jalisco, but we have proved to what extent we are capable of taking the good decisions. The economic growth has been fantastic and it endorses this administration's work. I would really like to see something like this happen at a federal level with Vicente Fox. |
SECRETARY OF TOURISM 