Over the past 7 years, California has continually topped the list of states of origin for visitors from the United States to the Destination; as a result, there are new incoming flights from that area as well as intense promotional activity.

The Riviera Nayarit has found its favorite natural market in California—this is why it was the site of the most important Promotional Tour held during the month of June, sponsored by the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

Dinner seminars for 230 travel agents were held in San Diego, Newport Beach and Los Angeles. Thirty business partners including hotels, airlines and tour operators also attended the events.

Several strong accounts in the luxury market enjoyed specialized workshops during the tour; these included Protravel, Balboa Travel, Worldview Travel and Altour, just to mention a few. There was also an open house held at Pleasant Holidays, where 60 reservations, groups and weddings agents working with this important tour operator received updates.

“During the past seven years—at least—California has been the state that sends over the most tourists to the Riviera Nayarit, even during the crisis. It’s essential that we keep its agents updated and offer them the latest sales tools so we can continue to count on their presence within the Destination,” assured Marc Murphy, Managing Director for the Riviera Nayarit CVB.

The new Southwest and Alaska Airlines flights from Orange County that started this year were the topic of conversation during the presentations by the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta.

The stats gathered from the Riviera Nayarit CVB’s Survey confirm California’s lead as a market of origin to the Destination. In 2014, 27.5% of tourists from the US came from California.

California is so important for Nayarit that the State Government holds an annual Nayarit Fair in California for all the ex-residents that now call that state home.

The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, in conjunction with Punta Mita Expeditions, Punta Mita Resorts, and the Riviera Nayarit Convention & Visitors Bureau, is ready to welcome the Third Annual Punta Mita Beach Festival.

The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta updated dozens of top-selling travel agents for the Destinations; the teams also participated in the Feria Arlag, attended by thousands of travel agents.

The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta hosted several appreciation breakfasts and dinners in Guadalajara from June 15-18 to thank and incentivize travel agents belonging to top-selling wholesalers for the Destinations.

On the 19th the joint teams also participated in the XXXVIII Feria Internacional Arlag, attended by thousands of travel agents.

“In 2014 Guadalajara topped the list of cities of origin for visitors to the Riviera Nayarit. We have to acknowledge these top-selling travel agents so they know how valuable they are to us and continue to work hard at what they do best,” commented Marc Murphy, Managing Director for the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

The activities began on Monday the 15th with a dinner for 12 wholesalers. On Tuesday the 16th the teams hosted a breakfast for 20 top agencies from Record Vacations; that same afternoon another 20 travel agents from the same company received the latest updates from the destinations. These activities were repeated on Wednesday the 17th for wholesaler Imacop.

A breakfast was held on Thursday the 18th for 70 travel agents from different wholesalers throughout Guadalajara; representatives from 30 hotels from both destinations were present during this event.

XXXVIII Feria Internacional Arlag

The teams took advantage of their trip to Guadalajara to participate in the Feria Internacional Arlag, an event focused on tourism industry service providers including airlines, wholesale operators, shipping companies, tourism destinations, car rental agencies and hotel chains, among others.

200 exhibitors and a thousand travel agents from all over the Republic of Mexico were present at this event.

• Representatives from six British media titles toured the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta in order to take back with them information that will generate over 70 million impressions with just one published story each.

The consistent efforts by the Public Relations department of the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) together with the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust (Fidetur) continue with this most recent FAM trip for the British press.

For one week starting on June 13th reporters from the UK were able to tour both destinations, amassing information on this tourism region that will eventually make its way to the European market.

The main objective of the trip is to maximize the exposure of both destinations within the British market and its environs. It was organized around a group of six top British media and their combined reach, which will surpass 70 million positive impressions.

Participating media and their combined Unique Monthly Visits (UMV) include: Travel Weekly UK (Circ. 14,572), Mirror Online (65,508,400 UMV) Good Housekeeping Online (570,000 UMV), Chelsea Monthly (Circ. 150,000), Yahoo! UK (5,446,970 UMV), and New Magazine (Circ. 310,190).

The variety of participating media was chosen in order to reach different market segments in one trip.

Mirror Online is part of the largest paper in the UK, Daily Mirror, with an enormous reach. Travel Weekly is a tourism-oriented publication; Good Housekeeping Online is the UK’s top-selling monthly women’s lifestyle title; and Yahoo! UK is a wide-reaching information source with a diverse audience.

This is another example of how the Riviera Nayarit CVB and Puerto Vallarta’s Fidetur continue to invest wisely in foreign media promotion, ensuring the gastronomy, the luxurious hotel infrastructure, the spa services, the ecotourism activities, the adventure and the traditional Mexican culture that dominate the region will all serve to encourage ever-growing numbers of visitors from the UK in the upcoming months.

The Activities and Outcomes Report for the first trimester of 2015 presented to the Banderas Bay Hotel and Motel Association (AHMBB, by its acronym in Spanish), spells out all the actions undertaken by the different departments of the Riviera Nayarit CVB from January through March. 

Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- Riviera Nayarit Visitors and convention Center (OVC) through its Department of Promotion and Sales, as well as Puerto Vallarta Office of Tourism (Fidetur), where pleased to welcome a group of Peruvian travel agents, and were pleased to share some selling skills with them.

These activities are part of Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta joined campaign in collaboration with Mexico Board of Tourism (CPTM), with the participation of Aeromexico Airline.

OVC’s Promotion and Sales Department maintain a work connection with six Peruvian Tour operators (TO); they sent a group of 12 people, including managers, leaders and executives from travel agencies sales and commercial areas. Some other travel agencies had previously sent people from other areas. The idea is to diversify tourism sale options in their country; to fulfill their objective, it is important to have Tourist Operator experts in Peru.

The first three days of the trip were spent in Puerto Vallarta, where they took a look at different hotels and visited traditional spots. From there, they proceeded to the north of Rio Ameca, where the visitors enjoyed tasting the organic products and got acquainted with the cultural values of San Pancho. They continued to Sayulita, from where they considered it unfeasible to leave without riding the waves; so they took a few surfing lessons.

Nuevo Vallarta and Punta de Mita, were mandatory stops to check the destination’s options in hotels infrastructure. They also visited the Marietas Islands, which is the destination’s icon. They were fascinated by them. Upon visiting the islands, they portrayed the great interest Playa Escondida (the Hidden Beach) in Peru has triggered.

[readon1 url="index.php?option=com_sobipro&pid=1&sid=703:mar&Itemid=212"]Source:www.VallartaToday.com-by MAR Translation Services[/readon1]

Stats from January through March of this year indicate increases over last year’s percentages in the number of passengers arriving via air, hotel occupancy, room nights, revenue and online sales.

• A total of 38 South American tour operators in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru are currently part of the joint Riviera Nayarit/Puerto Vallarta campaign.

The joint Riviera Nayarit/Puerto Vallarta campaign, spearheaded by the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB), has been in negotiations with the most important tour operators in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru, thanks to the recent increase of tourists from these countries to Mexico.

The MTB conducted promotions, advertising and institutional public relations within these countries, all considered emerging markets for Mexico. The MTB reported that in 2014 there was a 10.1% increase in tourists arriving via air versus 2013: Brazil increased its visitors by 13.7%, Colombia by 24.7% and Chile by 24.4%.

Three new tour operators from Colombia recently affiliated themselves with the joint campaign, as did the most important tour operator from Brazil. The 38 tour operators that cooperate with both destination are divided as follows: eight in Colombia, nine in Brazil, eight in Argentina, seven in Chile and six in Peru.

“The addition of tour operators in Colombia and Brazil is reinforcing the reach of our joint campaign, especially considering what we already have established in Argentina, Chile and Peru,” said Marc Murphy, Director for the Riviera Nayarit CVB. “We look forward to an increase in the number of room nights sold during the 2015-2016 winter season.”

It’s important to note these emerging markets are searching for new tourism destinations that fit their profile, and both the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta are excellent alternatives for South America.

These tour operators are businesses that create and/or distribute trips and different tourism services to attract visitors. The also collaborate with travel agencies to achieve their objectives. 

• 115 specialists in the meetings market received updates on the Destination in Mexico City; the Riviera Nayarit hosted 491 meetings and events in 2014; 54% of all the visitors to the Destination last year were from the domestic market.

The Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Promotions and Sales Department and hotel representatives from the destination’s hotels carried out MICE events (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing & Exhibitions) and training workshops in Mexico City, strengthening meeting planners’ focus on the Riviera Nayarit.

The work, which took place during the fourth week of April, was directed towards these agents that in meetings, conventions, expos, weddings and fairs. There were 491 events of this type hosted in the Destination last year, 230 of which were organized by national companies.

The first stop was Eventos MICE DF. The Riviera Nayarit hosted a breakfast for 50 meeting planners; besides the keynote address by the CVB, there were also round tables offering information from the Destination’s hotels.

The workshops for the incentive agencies consisted in visiting some of the top companies including Groups To Go, American Express, Koch Overseas, Innova, CTS, among others. The hotel representatives updated the firms, and they also opened negotiations to eventually bring more groups to the Riviera Nayarit in the near future.

A full 56.4% of the tourists that arrived in 2014 were domestic visitors. The meetings and events segment attracted 97,286 visitors to the destination last year.

The Riviera Nayarit CVB’s official Poll provided the statistics and data for this article.

PUERTO VALLARTA: They arrived on April 13th to tour several key attractions in the Riviera Nayarit to be followed by a visit to Puerto Vallarta, after which they will return to their country on the 17th to continue promoting both destinations.

A group of 12 Colombian travel agents are currently touring the area on a FAM trip in order to better acquaint themselves with the many attractions offered by the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta.

Their adventure began on Monday, April 13th, when the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau welcomed them with a tour of the northern part of the bay area including site inspections at several hotels in Nuevo Vallarta. They also visited hotel properties in Punta de Mita.

Their next stop was Sayulita, the Riviera Nayarit’s Surf Capital, on the 14th, where they learned a few surfing basics in the area where the ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship will be held next May.

Another important stop during their trip will be in Punta Mita, Mexico’s most exclusive development, where they will indulge firsthand in the Riviera Nayarit’s Glamour Peninsula’s luxury on April 15th.

The Colombian travel agents will then proceeded over the Ameca River to the south, where they will be well taken care of by the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust during the rest of their stay.

Of South America’s emerging markets, Colombia has been very strongly targeted by this joint promotion under the aegis of the Mexico Tourism Board.

This year the tourism entities have already conducted at least one activity per month directed towards this particular country in the hopes of increasing the amount of visitors from that region of the Southern Cone.

PUERTO VALLARTA: Toyota Motor Corporation, the world's largest automaker, said Wednesday it planned to invest $1 billion to build a new assembly plant in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato that will commence operations in 2019.

The plant will employ 2,000 people and have the capacity to produce 200,000 units annually, Toyota said in a statement.

The Guanajuato plant will manufacture Corolla sedans for the North American market.

The plant will be Toyota's 15th in North America, the first built since 2011 and the automaker's largest investment to date in Mexico.

"The skills of the workers and the ability to produce with advanced technology make central Mexico the right place for our plant," Toyota Motor Mike Bafan

Toyota Motor currently has its only Mexican plant in the northwestern state of Baja California, where it produced nearly 20,000 units in the first quarter of this year.

The Japanese automaker also announced plans to build a new plant in China as part of its plan to increase production capacity and jump-start its international expansion strategy.

"This investment represents our long-held principles of continuous improvement and challenging ourselves to always do better. An increase in production does not mean an undisciplined pursuit of more. Toyota's expansion must be driven by providing ever-better-cars and our talented people," Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda said.