Mexico’s high-end tourism market has taken a hit says CEO of Apple Leisure Group

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Head of Apple Leisure Group says insecurity, sargassum and insufficient marketing are the causes

Alejandro Zozaya, director of the conglomerate, explained that the decrease is not due to “a fall of the international market but a decision of the tourist to go to other destinations that are not Mexico”.

The Ministry of the Interior reported that last January there was a decrease of 0.3% in the arrival of air visitors to Mexico, with respect to the same period of 2018.

However, in an interview for #AristeguiEnVivo ,Alejandro Zozaya, director of the Apple Leisure Group , Apple Vacations and the AMResorts chain , pointed out that the setback has been much greater, which has resulted in a dramatic fall in revenues, the tourist quality, in tips and jobs.

The businessman calculated that the decrease in the economic benefit of the sector is 20 percent , compared to 2018; but he warned that the most complicated fall is to come in the coming months.

Zozaya explained that until now “the most important market we have lost is the one that leaves the highest economic gains, the high-end American, ” such as high-level weddings and honeymoons, since that represents 62 percent of tourism to Mexico.

“We still have many Americans but the highest level has stopped going and we have replaced it with tourism from other countries and other regions, which leave a smaller economic footprint, spend less in the destination, hotel rates go down,” he said. .

He explained that what is happening with tourism in Mexico is not the result of “a fall in the international market but a decision of the tourist to go to other destinations that are not Mexico “, this election is particularly influenced by the insecurity in the country , in addition to the situation with sargassum on Mexican beaches and the lack of promotion and publicity following the disappearance of the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico. 

“No one sends more tourists to Mexico than our group (Apple Leisure Group) and we already registered a 14% decrease in seats in the United States, ” explained Zozaya. However, he noted that the reference in the country, which would have a very significant fall is the tourism that comes to Quintana Roo, mainly to Cancun. “When tariffs go down there, it affects the whole country.”

Alejandro Zozaya said that there had never been so many Americans traveling outside of their country before; however, “they are going to the  Dominican Republic, Costa Rica to Jamaica and Mexico loses market.”

We see a drop in demand from the most important states but at the same time we are seeing an increase in supply. “Today we have 30 thousand additional rooms projected in Quintana Roo that are more than those in Puerto Vallarta, in Los Cabos or any other destination in Mexico,” he said.

That is the importance of the promotion, explained that when the pleasure tourist is about to make the decision between staying in the United States, travel to Mexico or Dominican, “advertising is the main conduit that generates the awarenesse and in the case of tourism, the correct investment of promotion and advertising was a 1 to 1 correlation, not the number of tourists and quality of tourism we received in the country. “

” We need demand to grow at least at the level of supply in order to maintain profitability and the model of investment and employment generation,” he said.

Source: aristeguinoticias

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