Mexico Aims to Top Latin Meetings Market

IXTAPA, Guerrero, Mexico

Mexico Tourism Board CEO Lourdes Berho recently announced a plan to position Mexico as the top meetings destination in Latin America, as well as one of the top convention destinations worldwide by the end of 2020. The announcement was made at the 23rd National Meetings Industry Congress in Ixtapa, Guerrero. Berho also shared new data on the rapid growth of Mexico’s tourism industry.

Berho cited the meetings industry’s success in creating 890,000 jobs, and accounting for 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP in 2014. The figures were based off stats from 266,000 meetings held in 2014.

The meetings industry hosts more than 300,000 gatherings annually in Mexico including corporate and incentive events, congresses, exhibitions and summits, translating into 29 million hotel room bookings.

In 2013, Mexico received 24 million international tourists and was the 15th-most-visited country in the world. In 2015, it rose to become the ninth-most-visited country, receiving 32.1 million tourists. This growth doubled the average of the global tourism industry during that time.

Due to the meetings industry’s important role in Mexico’s overall economic growth, the Mexican government announced plans to launch a global initiative to position and promote Mexico as Latin America’s leader in the world congress arena.

Berho unveiled the following seven-point plan at the National Meetings Industry Congress:

1. Leverage the Customer Advisory Board, which was created in tandem with the North American Advisory Summit. This board will offer Mexican destinations specialized feedback from international and national experts to design best-in-class marketing strategies.
2. Develop the National Ambassadors Program that will consist of Mexican leaders from several economic, academic and scientific fields with the objective of attracting their specific global meetings for greater impact.
3. Create the National Bidding Committee to design key strategies for the private and public sectors to work together, and compete for congresses internationally.
4. Focus on the corporate tradeshow/meeting market targeting industries that are most relevant to Mexico such as automotive, energy and sustainability, medicine, finance, aerospace and technology, among others, in a vertical marketing strategy.
5. Launch a marketing and communications campaign that reflects innovation, uses strategic promotional materials and leverages destination meetings industry partnerships with global organizations, in a specialized business language.
6. Create a comprehensive cooperative program for destinations that involves restructuring Mexico Tourism Board’s meeting-related efforts. This will help support and improve its offerings in order to deliver on future customer requests.
7. Install and support educational certifications and training programs that allows specialization in the meetings industry players, which will elevate the level of trust and generate more business to the country.

Additionally, Berho noted the importance of close partnerships, hard work and dedication—key values within the meetings industry—in helping Mexico reach its goal of becoming a top meetings destination.