Nigeria, Mexico Can Share Ideas on Tourism

Nigeria is one of the many countries Mexico is trying to attract to its tourism industry. The Director of Mexico Tourism Board, Milko Rivera Hope, tells BUKOLA OGUNSINA that both countries can share ideas on tourism development.

Can you describe your job, and when tourism commenced in Mexico?   

Mexico decided a few decades back that one of its strengths was the tourism sector. There was a very strong development in products specifically dedicated to the tourism sector. Mexico has a wonderful climate. Our average weather temperature is 27 degrees. We have some fantastic beaches. Mexico is a very rich country culturally.

We have a very beautiful country regarding natural resources and so we decided to use some of that and become a tourism destination in order to benefit the population. That is the basic reason for doing tourism, to increase the well-being of your country, and of your citizens.  This started a few decades back and we have done a very good job of marketing Mexico. Last year we received 24 million tourists and it’s a record.

What target do you hope to achieve this year?      

Last year was 12 per cent from the year before; hopefully, we can maintain the same growth rate. So anything that is around 10 per cent growth for the entire tourism sector will be a good target. Now we do not want to create expectations that are unachievable, however, maintaining the growth rate would be fantastic regarding the expectations of the market.

At this particular moment, there are about three to four billion dollars in the pipeline of industries that are investing in tourism. The countries are mostly the United States, Mexico and the Middle East. These investors that are putting money into the tourism industry which tells you a little bit about the confidence that they have regarding where the industry is going.

Currently, how much would you say tourism brings into Mexico, revenue wise?

Last year was 14 billion dollars, which is a very good amount. It’s the first time we are bringing in so much money. It has also grown considerably from years before because we have changed from just trying to attract people into Mexico. At the beginning we tried volume, bringing in as many tourists as possible, now we are bringing in quality, getting people to stay longer and the people that come, to spend a lot more money. The entire tourism industry for Mexico represents 8 per cent of the country’s GDP [Gross Domestic Product].

Is tourism the largest revenue generator in Mexico?

It is actually the third largest earner of income for Mexico after manufacturing and crude oil. However, tourism in general represents 8 per cent of the GDP because it’s not only the 24 million tourists that are coming in, but Mexicans themselves who travel a lot around Mexico. Last year, there were 88 million travels from Mexicans themselves in Mexico. So there’s a big industry to handle these volume of people. The infrastructure is there, the hotels, the roads, the planes, the restaurants, and the entertainment.

Is tourism made affordable in Mexico?     

There’s everything for everyone. Mexico is the number one tourism destination of the world for luxury travel. We have some amazing products for luxury travel, but at the same time there are products for everybody. You can travel not necessarily spending a fortune. There are currently two local low cost airlines, in addition to the national carrier. The highways are used considerably so people can travel on all sorts of budgets. From very economical to the sky is your limit. There’s a little bit for everybody.

We are trying to promote the culture of Mexico the food of Mexico, sports tourism, adventure tourism. Sustainability is a very important topic that we are trying to promote in everything that we are trying to do. Because at the end of the day, there are two things; not only do we have to do this because we have to be responsible, but our clients demand it and if we do not provide it they will not come back. And what we want is repeat tourism.

Anybody can convince anybody to come one time, but we do not want one time customers, we want repeat customers. And that’s a little bit harder. That requires a little bit more effort, and that’s what we strive for.

What can Nigeria learn from Mexico in regards to tourism?   

I think that we have been particularly successful in promoting a world-class tourism destination. I think it’s not what Nigeria can learn but what we can share from each other and what we can learn from each other. Both countries have a very important cultural background. Mexico probably began the road to being a tourism destination a little earlier. Probably, what we can talk about is this, how do we promote ourselves in an open modern society, specifically as a nation that is open to receiving the world? That is the little bit of message that we try to put across as Mexicans.

The basic effort of having the tourism sector grow is to improve the lives of the people. So I guess that the objective we try to achieve in tourism is that one! So if there’s a lesson to be learned or a message to be given, I would think that the objective that we have is the promotion of Mexico and why we are doing it, the value of the industry, the value of tourism in order to promote the lives of our citizens can be what Nigeria can learn from Mexico in terms of tourism.

Source: Leadership (Nigeria)