The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta CVBs jointly hosted a FAM trip for 32 travel agents from England, Wales and Scotland the first week of December in order to promote the destinations within the UK market.

A FAM trip for a group of travel agents from England, Wales and Scotland took place the first week of December as part of the continuing efforts by the PR offices of the Riviera Nayarit and the Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors’ offices to promote the destinations in the UK.

A few weeks ago, the “Vallarta-Nayarit, Live it to believe it” campaign—spearheaded by the Mexico Tourism Board—was presented during the World Travel Mart in London. These activities are all linked in an effort to attract more of this captive market.

The 32 UK travel agents had the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the destinations’ natural marvels and experience their fantastic hotel infrastructure but, most of all, they were able to experience the warmth of the citizens of both Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit, all thanks to the work of tour operator Tui, key to the organization of the FAM trip.

On the agenda were several hotel site inspections at both destinations, including Canto del Sol, Secrets, Villa Premier, Buenaventura, Now Amber and Krystal in Puerto Vallarta; as well as Dreams Villa Magna, Royal Decameron, Iberostar, Grand Palladium, Riu Hotels, Marival Club and Suites and the Hard Rock in the Riviera Nayarit.

In order to get to know more about the recreational activities visitors can enjoy during their visit while in Puerto Vallarta, the agents took a zip line tour with Canopy River, they visited the old mining town of San Sebastian, had a great evening during the Ritmos de la Noche presentation and, during their free time, went shopping in the charming historic center.

In the Riviera Nayarit they started their tour in San Pancho, where they visited the “Entre Amigos” community center, where the founder of this organization, Nicole Swedlow, met with them in person and even invited them to join in the community work, which they took to with gusto.

They finished off in style with a visit to the hippie chic town of Sayulita, where they toured, ate chocolate bananas and either took paddle surfing lessons or went shopping. Their favorite stop: a delicious lunch at Don Pedros Restaurant.

Truth is, they fell in love with the natural beauty of the beaches and the scenery, as well as the first class service offered by the hotels at both destinations, and happily concluded that it would sell quickly and very well.

The tour highlighted the collaboration among operators, hoteliers, airlines and the destination for the promotion and positioning of the Riviera Nayarit in Colombia. During the event, the destination specialists trained 370 travel agents and held a press conference for 30 travel media representatives.

The Riviera Nayarit promotional tour in Colombia was a resounding success. It took place from November 26-28, 2013, in the cities of Medellin, Cali and Bogota, where the destination’s specialists met and trained 370 travel agents in the three cities and held a press conference for 30 travel industry media reps.

The Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and the destination’s hotels came to Colombia seeking to position the destination, a goal that doubtlessly was achieved.
Marc Murphy, Managing Director for the Riviera Nayarit CVB, stated the destination itself stood out during every presentation thanks to its luxurious man-made and natural attractions. The presentation consisted of audiovisual exhibits in order to heighten the experience.

“A few months ago we met a group of four Colombian wholesalers that committed to helping us promote the destination within the Colombian market,” said the Managing Director. “That was one of the trip’s main objectives.”

This group of wholesalers told the Riviera Nayarit CVB that their clients knew the traditional beach destinations quite well, so they were looking for an alternative on the Mexican Pacific.

“Our partner, Aeroméxico, was very supportive,” added Murphy. “They served as the liaison between the wholesalers and the CVB to offer a very attractive airfare so we could compete with other flights to the Colombian market’s traditional vacation spots.”

On the first day of the event, the group held a lunch in Medellin for 80 agents, followed by Cali, where a second event catered to 90 agents who had a chance to explore the wonders of Mexico’s Pacific Treasure. The tour ended in Bogota, where a workshop was held for 120 travel agents. This was also the site of the press conference held for representatives from 30 travel industry media outlets.

A cocktail was also held on the last evening, which celebrated the alliance among the operators, hoteliers and the destination to promote and position the Riviera Nayarit in Colombia.

This bond was confirmed by the presence of important media outlets and executives from Colombian travel agencies, as well as the attendance of Chancellor David Simon from the Mexican Embassy in Colombia.

Before the team left they held call-center trainings at the offices of operators Travel Depot, Pelícanos, Cielos Abiertos and Nómodas, helping 80 agents to become specialists in the destination.

“In the medium term we expect to see an increase in visits from this market and we hope to generate sufficient demand for the country’s airline, Avianca, to become interested in commencing a flight from Bogota to Vallarta-Nayarit’s Díaz Ordaz Airport,” stated Murphy in closing.

The synergy between the destinations is absolutely perfect: every time the Mexico Tourism Board attends an international event showcasing the “Live it to Believe it” campaign, Vallarta-Nayarit is always the headliner.

Rodrigo Esponda, Director of the Canadian office of the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB), stated that Vallarta-Nayarit is one of the highlights of the “Live it to Believe it” campaign within every tourism event where Mexico is a participant.“Both of these destinations are stellar,” commented Esponda. This is why the Vallarta-Nayarit commercial and promotions are always a part of the entity’s presentation.

The “Live it to Believe it” campaign is the main focus for the MTB along with its various elements, commercials and presentations, but the main highlight and the first to be presented is the material from Vallarta-Nayarit, followed by others including Mexico City, Yucatán and Los Cabos.

The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors bureaus are both heavily involved in everything relating to both of these destinations, which share an extraordinary relationship, working hand in hand in every one of their joint efforts.

“We have submitted various proposals for different events that can take place in Canada with Vallarta and Nayarit present in every festival with their joint promotional campaign,” said Esponda.

The impact these actions may have in Canada are always taken into consideration in order to measure the return on investment, which is currently already reflected in the increase in room nights in both destinations.

“We’d like to continue with this promotion and be able to position Vallarta-Nayarit as a dual destination for travel. I think another very interesting point is how the values offered by these two destinations complement each other,” added the Director of the Canadian office of the MTB.

According to travel agents, it’s easy to see how these two destinations complement each other when you visit Vallarta one day and the Riviera Nayarit the next—or vice versa—and they will recommend their clients visit both destinations during their trips.

“There’s no other place that offers such a perfect combination with such great synergy as this one,” said Rodrido Esponda in closing.

An ENTERPRISING woman, a woman of BUSINESS, a great WOMAN and a MOTHER who has contributed so much to Puerto Vallarta. 

Presentations in Chicago at the Mast Sales Sensation (350 agents) and ASTA Midwest Mexico (125 agents) are part of the strong joint promotional campaign with the MTB.

Two major presentations took place in the United States to update a total of 475 travel agents as part of the current joint promotional str ategy undertaken by the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB): “Vallarta-Nayarit, Live it to Believe it.”

The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors bureaus were in Chicago from November 19-20 in order to participate in advertising and promotional campaigns at the Mast Sales Sensation and the ASTA Midwest Mexico events.

The Mast Travel Network Association event was attended by over 350 travel agents, which came in contact with the many hotels, tourism destinations, cruise companies, tour operators and tourism service providers present.

Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta presented the Vallarta-Nayarit campaign to the agents visiting their stand in search of information about the destination.

The agents commented that some had already visited the destination as part of the Funjet Vacations FAM trip, but were pleasantly surprised to hear about all the new destination updates. They also confirmed they had made concrete sales already, including at the Iberostar hotel, which will open very soon. The latter was one of the hotels present at the event, as well as the Grupo Gran Velas and the RIU and AM Resorts chains.

The ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) event was hosted by the government of Yucatán, with the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta as special guests by invitation of the MTB. Together they presented their promotional material to the 125 travel agents that participated in the occasion.

Among the hotels present were the Palladium, Paradise Village and Samba Vallarta on behalf of Riviera Nayarit, and the Barceló, Hilton, Crystal, Gran Paradise and Fiesta Americana on behalf of Puerto Vallarta.

This is one more example of how the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta CVBs are working together under the aegis of the MTB to continue their intensive promotion of their destinations abroad, positioning the “Vallarta-Nayarit, Live it to Believe it campaign” in order to generate more and better tourism.

This summer Mexico saw an increase of 8% in tourists from Canada as compared to the summer of 2012. The overall increase in tourists traveling from Canada increased 3%, meaning the number of tourists from Canada that visited Mexico actually tripled.

The talked-about increases in the Canadian tourist market coming to Mexico during the summer of 2013 predict an excellent winter season, according to the Director of the Canadian office of the Mexico Tourism Bureau (MTB), Rodrigo Esponda.

It’s a logical assumption to say that tourism coming from Canada indicates a strong winter season this year, which means the summer numbers will no doubt be reflected in the tallies for the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta.

“The fact that we had such a strong summer showing in Mexico with an 8% increase in travelers from Canada in comparison to the summer of 2012 as well as the total growth of all Canadian travelers to any destination, which was 3%, indicates there were three times as many Canadian visitors to Mexico this year,” said Esponda.

The three-part promotional effort put forth by the MTB includes images of Vallarta-Nayarit and Mexico in the Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver airports.

There has also been a strong sales campaign for the Riviera-Nayarit undertaken by Canadian tour operators, plus a public relations effort that has generated great press by the journalists who have been invited to the destination to experience Vallarta-Nayarit.

“The Canadian market has responded very well,” added the Director for Canada. “We have polled the tour operators and all of them suggest the winter season will be very good for Vallarta-Nayarit.”

The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors bureaus have been collaborating on a joint promotional effort in Canada, offering incentives, seminars, workshops and FAM trips.

“The proposal to promote these two destinations together has been received very favorably in Canada for several reasons,” added Esponda, “and the tour operators and the wholesales have been implementing these dual-destination promotions in order to incentivize sales.”

A brand new flight from Rockford to the destination was announced for January; the February flight from St. Louis has been extended through August in order to include the summer season; 90 travel agents were trained during this visit, which also included Chicago.

Illinois recently received the traveling Road Show sponsored by the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) together with the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors bureaus in order to present the “Vallarta-Nayarit, Live it to believe it” campaign.
 
The Road Show took place in Rockford on November 21st and was attended by 30 travel agents who received all the updates on each destination’s attractions. The support of tour operator Apple Vacations was fundamental to its success.
 
The team also presented the flight scheduled to fly out to Puerto Vallarta’s Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Airport for the first time; the flight will be weekly and is programmed to begin on January 27, 2014.
 
The new flight has raised great expectations, as it is, in fact, experimental. The vessel will be an Airbus 319 with a capacity of 156 passengers via Frontier Airlines.
 
Local hotels were, as always, very present. The Grand Velas, Palladium, Hard Rock, Paradise Village and Samba Vallarta represented the Riviera Nayarit; the Fiesta Americana, Casa Velas, Hilton, Crystal, Crown Paradise, Garza Blanca and Las Palmas represented Puerto Vallarta.
 
The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors bureaus collaborated throughout. The Road Show moved to Bloomington on November 22nd, where they trained another 30 travel agents, but the big news involved the neighboring city of St. Louis, Missouri, which extended its Puerto Vallarta flight.
 
This Frontier Airlines flight will begin operations during the month of February, but will continue service through the month of August in order to include the summer season.
 
During the event Sandy Meyer, District Sales Manager for Apple Vacations, also announced a new FAM trip for travel agents through her company. The date is set for December 3 – 5 for a visit to both destinations.
 
Taking advantage of their trip through Illinois, the MTB and the two CVBs stopped in Chicago, where they hosted a seminar that was originally planned for 20 travel agents—30 showed up. The event was organized by Funjet Vacations.
 
By working hand in hand, the MTB, the Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta continue their joint efforts to promote tourism to the region.

As an answer to the old demand to relieve the downtown area from semi-empty buses

The Alianza de Transportistas de Puerto Vallarta through its representative, Alejandro Estrada Villanueva, posited, in the frame of the Week of Labour Culture that they will put in operation a special route to promote the tourist transport in the downtown area of the city, with the aim that not all the buses go in, which originates an overload of semi-empty vehicles.

It is about an initiative “to relieve the center of Puerto Vallarta and give it a better look and quality for the tourist”, in this way, in the coming weeks the announcement will be made and the characteristics of the change will be looked at and shown to the Ministry of Mobility of the state.

The objective is to avoid that the center of Puerto Vallarta jams up because just as it has been said since many years ago, in a lot of cases the buses, when they get to the street of Morelos in the center of the city, they only carry an average of 3 to 4 passengers.

He advanced that there will be special units for these routes, while the buses that they already have, will be circulating in the alternate colonies to the entry avenue and the street of Morelos.

For this the users will get down in a point that is to be defined in order to take the second tourist bus that will carry them to the center of the city, this, he said, will not generate an extra cost because it would already be paid previously at the time of taking the first bus.

PROJECTS

The bus representative known as “greens” said that they have diverse projects of development, improvement and growth from the public transport dealer.

He made known that in the Alianza, they are doing a study that will allow them to define new routes based on the demand of the service and establish which should be the hours and stopping points where the buses should collect the passengers

“It is not the same at peak hour in the morning or at 2 in the afternoon when they go out of the school as in 6 in the afternoon. What we need and will be doing is to privilege the moments in which there is a greater demand, and the places where more people take the bus”.

He also announced that qualification courses are already offered to the busdrivers with the support of the University Center of the Coast by means of talks and motivational workshops and especially for stress management, “80 percent of the total number of drivers that is to say, from 300 to 320 workers have taken them”.

Finally he commented that the routes Banús and Versalles are the ones with most influx of users, whereas Bobadilla Villa Las Flores and Infonavit are the ones that move less daily passengers.

[readon1 url="http://vallartaopina.net/2013/11/25/planea-alianza-un-transporte-turistico-por-calles-del-centro/"]Source: Vallarta Opina Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]

The destination’s promotional efforts aimed towards the South American giant, including a press trip for the Brazilian media and the participation of the Riviera Nayarit in Brazil’s “Festival de Turismo de Gramado” have generated direct visits, which include the 43 Brazilians that stayed at the Hard Rock towards the end of this month.
 
The Riviera Nayarit has undertaken a very strong promotional campaign within the Brazilian market. For example, a recent FAM trip to the Riviera Nayarit for six members of the Brazilian media took place November 16-19 in collaboration with the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) and Copa Airlines.
 
The invited media—all tourism specialists—arrived in Guadalajara in order to experience for themselves how that destination can serve as a gateway for other tourism circuits on their way to the Riviera Nayarit.
 
Among the guests were Shirley Pacelli Souza Silva, a journalist from Estado de Minas; Livia Marra, writer for Folha de São Paulo; Kátia Arantes Lessa and Jose María Llanos Martínez, writer and photographer for Editora TRIP; Luciana Gonçalves Veras de Morais, writer for Revista Continente; Nathalia Ilovatte, writer for R7; and Barbará Blas, writer for Companhia de Viagem.
 
They all flew in from different cities, and during the visit were treated to visits to different towns and attractions including San Pancho, Sayulita, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, the Marina Riviera and the Marietas Islands. They also enjoyed the culinary specialties presented during the XIX Gourmet Festival, which coincided with their visit.
 
The writers’ enjoyment was further enhanced by the excellent service offered by the Villa La Estancia and the Marival Residences, not to mention the adventure and thrills courtesy of Vallarta Adventures.
 
Festival de Gramado
 
The Riviera Nayarit participated in the Festival de Turismo de Gramado (Gramado Tourism Festival) that took place in Rio Grande Do Sul with the intention of promoting the tourism industry with travel agents and specialized press. During the November 7 – 10 event there were 14 thousand visitors to the 400 stands manned by 2,500 exhibitors on the 17,000 square-meter exhibit floor.
 
This is one of Brazil’s most important tourism festivals, which this year celebrated its 25th year. It’s considered one of the most successful business events for the tourism industry in Brazil and South America.
 
Gramado is a mountain resort, one of the traditional winter tourism destinations in southern Brazil; 80 contacts were obtained with tour operators and travel agencies.
 
This is the type of public relations and promotional activities through which the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau obtains direct results; to wit, there was a group of 43 Brazilians staying at the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta during the third week of November.

Puerto Vallarta-Riviera Nayarit and Cancún-Riviera Maya are the only two sun and fun destinations on the list; the only other destinations outside of the Unites States were London and Paris.

According to a study performed in early November by FlightNetwork.com, Puerto Vallarta-Riviera Nayarit and Cancún-Riviera Maya were the two destinations that put Mexico squarely on the list of favorite vacation spots for Canadians during the wintertime.
 
The destinations were 14th and 11th on the list, respectively, which was published in an article titled “Top 14 Winter Destinations for Canadians.”

The Canadians’ preferences were influenced thanks to the constant promotional efforts that take place in that country, especially the current joint promotion headed by the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB): “Vallarta-Nayarit, Live it to believe it.”

Both the Riviera Nayarit and the Puerto Vallarta convention and visitors bureaus have organized Road Shows, participated in events including the International Tourism and Travel Show and offered press conferences and FAM trips for agents and wedding planners; the participation of chef Betty Vázquez on the “Iron Chef” program has also played a part, as have other efforts.

This classification of the destinations is one of the most precise and detailed descriptions of the Canadians’ air travel patterns ever revealed by a travel agency, the second largest online travel agency in Canada.

The article states Canadians that come to the destination “choose to simply stroll along the cobbled streets of the city for the old world romantic feel and soak up the warmth of the people, the surroundings, and the culture of this wonderful Mexican city.”

Puerto Vallarta-Riviera Nayarit and Cancún-Riviera Maya are the only two sun and fun destinations on the list; together with Paris and London, they were the only ones mentioned that are located outside the United States.

 www.FlightNetwork.com is the second most-visited online agency in Canada, with their home office in Toronto. They have alliances with over 100 airlines including WestJet, Air Canada and other top international operators.

Online: http://www.flightnetwork.com/blog/top-14-winter-destinations-canadians/

The organizers of the World Travel Market (WTM) estimate the 2013 event generated over £2 billion in business deals; some 50,000 delegates were at the event, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.

The Riviera Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta has partnered with TUI Travel Group, the largest travel company in Europe, to invest in a major advertising campaign that has been running from July of 2013 through July of 2014.

TUI owns eight European airlines that operate from over 60 airports in 9 countries. They serve regular and charter flights to more than 150 destinations around the world.

Several fairs, promotional seminars and public relations efforts have already taken place to promote relations with Great Britain with the full support of the Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) and Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism (SECTUR).

“There are currently several billboards on the streets of London touting the Vallarta-Nayarit ‘Live it to believe it’ joint campaign,” said Marc Murphy, Managing Director of the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The campaign is also in the online and hard-copy magazines from the World Travel Market, not to mention other advertising already in place thanks to this major investment.”

During last year’s World Travel Market, Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and Rodolfo López Negrete, Director of the MTB, were both present in order to consolidate several destinations in the UK.

The organizers of the WTM estimate the 2013 event generated over £2 billion in business deals; some 50,000 delegates were at the event, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year.

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics the number of British tourists visiting Mexico in 2013 by plane directly from Great Britain increased by 22% ;the number of flight from the UK to Mexico also grew by 24%.

The numbers also indicate that Mexico represents 29% of the market within the British citizens’ preferences of places to vacation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition to the advertising investment, there have been trainings and workshops for tour operators and travel agents, press conferences, FAM trips and other promotional services in order to generate more tourism, more jobs and increase the economic impact for the region.

The hotels reported a 90% occupation rate and of the total number of tourists in the destination, 20% made aquatic and terrestrial tours

On the last weekend, Puerto Vallarta received more than 50 thousand tourists that came to enjoy the different events that were held in the city, informed the director of Municipal Tourism, Carlos Gerard Guzmán.

“It was a good weekend for Puerto Vallarta. Including Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the hotels reported an average occupation of 90 percent, even some hotels of gran turismo reported an occupation of 100 percent, which was something favorable for the destination”, said the head of Tourism.

He added that the visitors who took advantage of the long weekend and the "Buen Fin", also enjoyed the Fishing Tournament, the Fourth International Concentration of Motorcyclists, the Gourmet Festival, the Vochomanía, among other events that were carried out.

In addition to the hotels, said Gerard Guzmán, the tourists went to the commercial strip, and made use of the taxi services, of the tourist guides, and the terrestrial and aquatic excursions, “for example, the Port Administration reports that there were nearly six thousand people who made tours in small vessels and nearly six thousand people made terrestrial tours, which represents roughly 20 percent of the tourists, of the more than 50 thousand tourists who arrived to the destination this weekend and participated in tours”.

It is noteworthy that for the regional director of Tourism of the northern coast of Jalisco, José Ludwig Estrada Virgen, the arrival of this important flow of tourism, especially national tourism, was an anticipation of what is coming for the winter season.

He assured that Puerto Vallarta has worked a lot in regards to promotion, especially hand in hand with Riviera Nayarit, under the umbrella of the joint promotion campaign supported by the Federal Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) and the Council of Tourist Promotion of Mexico (CPTM).

“In Puerto Vallarta, and in general in the Vallarta-Nayarit region, I think that we have a very good outlook for the coming winter season because a lot of work has been done and an intense, joint promotion campaign has been carried out with excellent results”, he pointed out.

[readon1 url="http://vallartaopina.net/2013/11/19/llegaron-a-vallarta-poco-mas-de-50-mil-visitantes/"]Source: Vallarta Opina Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]