Horacio Gonzalez PardoTourism Secretary of Mexico´s Jalisco

Horacio Gonzalez Pardo, tourism secretary in the Mexican state of Jalisco, attended FITUR 2005 in Madrid and spoke exclusively with Caribbean News Digital about his home state and the prospects of the Spanish market.

by Jose Carlos de Santiago

CND: First of all, we´d like to know about Jalisco´s new promotional image as stacked up against the state´s ad efforts in the international market.

HGP: We´re looking for a way to the European market and with that purpose in mind, we´re focusing on two key issues. One of them is Guadalajara, the country´s second-largest city, and the other hot spot is Puerto Vallarta, Mexico´s second-biggest sun-and-sand destination after Cancun. But Jalisco is a whole lot more than just those two points. For instance, we´ve got Costa Alegre, a place brimming with hotels, such as Tamarindo, Hotelito Desconocido, Alamandas, Careyes. But we also have mountain towns, three magnificent ranges and two municipalities included in the Magic Towns Program, which are Tapalpa and Mazamitla, plus the village of Tequila, which is another magic town. This is a federal program that embraces 18 magic towns, and Jalisco has three of them.

We also count on religious tourism because our state is home to Mexico´s three most worshipped virgins, after the Virgin of Guadalupe, which are the Zapopan, the Talpa and the San Juan de los Lagos Holy Madonnas. In all, they draw 6 million pilgrims every year.

All of this makes up a highly interesting product for Spanish travelers to come and visit us. We´ve already managed to arrange a charter flight with pretty interesting occupancy rates, and the idea is to bring back the charter flights this summer. These used to be a flight to Guadalajara, but I think lack of promotion in Spain eventually killed the flight, because it used to leave jam-packed for Spain.

We´re trying to make Spain the key to the European market and I think we´re making progress in that respect. We´ve just put together a company that provides double-deck buses and that idea is rapidly catching on and reflecting the tremendous efforts Jalisco is doing to paint a good picture of itself. This entire strategy is beginning to pay off because we now have a product to sell. But the old saying goes you just can´t sell a pig in a hole, so we´re constantly traveling around in this promotional mission.

The arrival of American citizens is huge, and Europeans, for their part, kind of think they´re not going to be treated right in Mexico and they´re dead wrong. I´m convinced, and you can take that to the bank, they´re going to be welcomed with open arms, with all the respect and the loving Mexicans feel for the European people. In the case of Spaniards, you know, we speak the same language, share the same values, and the Governor is tremendously interested in promoting Jalisco in Spain.

CND: Are you devising some kind of action to target the Spanish market and urge Spaniards to travel to Jalisco through airlines other than charters?

HGP: We´ve been traveling to Spain for four years, to its main cities and we have not only dealt with the Marsans Group, which, as a matter of fact, deserves our respect. But, indeed, we´ve talked with all major groups. We´ve pieced together big FAM trips to Jalisco and there´s, of course, a tremendous interest in the state.

We´ve started a campaign with Mundicolor for trips to Guadalajara, an even though it´s being conducted by the Marsans Group itself, the heart of the matter is this is a good step forward in the right direction.

CND: How much money are you going to invest in promotion this year?

HGP: There´s a trusteeship in place that picks up 2 percent for promotional funds, a figure that amounts to $3 million in Puerto Vallarta and $3 million in Guadalajara. That much, coupled with a million bucks chipped in by the Tourism Department, adds up $6 to $7 million. The contribution of the Mexican Tourism Promotion Council puts that figure in the neighborhood of $10 million every year.

CND: Do you put aside a fifth of that money for promotion in Europe?

HGP: Yes, we do. You must bear in mind the U.S. is by far our number-one market. Jalisco snares 80 percent of all domestic travelers, so we need to launch an aggressive campaign all across the country to prevent that market niche from slipping through our fingers.

CND: Will you someday sock away $1 million to advertise the destination in Spain?

HGP: It all depends on the proposals laid on the table and on whether the Tourism Promotion Council agrees to that. The important thing here is to put resources together, the ones that we have, those allotted by the Council and the ones that tour operators might fork over. We contribute a quarter of that money; the Council comes up with another quarter, and tour operators shell out the remaining fifty percent.