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Mexico

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Marketing and Sales Programs

Our marketing and sales programs invite Mexicans to see and experience Canada in a whole new way. Whether we launch a multimedia advertising campaign, stage a public relations event, or bring media and destination partners together to exchange stories and tourism experiences, our initiatives target three major audiences:

Consumer Read more > Close >

We focus on three key consumer groups, based on CTC’s Explorer Quotient® (EQ®) types:

Authentic Experiencers savour unique experiences and seek to enrich themselves through encounters with local culture and history. They want to be fully immersed in travel experiences and tend to stay away from group tours and rigid plans.

Free Spirits have an insatiable need for travel that’s unique and exciting. Constant travellers, they enjoy being pampered and having things taken care of so they can relax and recharge.

Cultural History Buffs enjoy interacting with the locals to learn their customs and traditions. They prefer to let adventures unfold spontaneously, and are not driven by rigid schedules.

Our key consumers are wealthy travellers aged 30 to 40 years who enjoy making high-end trips to Canada and are free to travel any time of year.
 
Advertising and PR campaigns
Our 2013 PR strategy focuses on advocacy to create word of mouth about Canada, leverage advocates to validate that Canada is the right destination choice and increase exposure for Canada’s travel experiences.

This year our principal consumer campaigns encompass online and print advertising and have a social-media component.

 

Social media

Mexico has an active presence on social-media channels such as Facebook(20,000 fans) and Twitter(5,000 followers). The focus for 2013 is to strengthen the Weekly Experiences by cultivating different calls to action on social-media channels that: invite the online users to share pictures/videos of their own experiences and increase engagement by executing a giveaway strategy; to have hashtag promotion in all media communication materials; to run strong campaign of ads over Google and Facebook.

El Viajero

Every three months, The Traveller (El Viajero) e-newsletter reaches 21,000 consumers and trade representatives in Mexico. It features new Canadian experiences, editorial content and links to regional destinations.

Travel Trade Read more > Close >

CTC-Mexico trade development focuses on the retail and wholesale aspects of selling travel. On the retail side, the in-market team establishes preferred-partner status with various retail travel agency consortia and initiates the Canada Specialist Program.
   
Canadian Specialist Program

The Canada Specialist Program(CSP) helps Mexican travel professionals learn about Canada’s distinct experiences by offering engaging training programs, interactive online resources and expert, inside knowledge. 
 
Participating travel agents are offered a range of information and support, including:

·       Certified training programs and testing

·       Conferences and seminars

·       Familiarization (FAM) trips

·       Tools and training manuals

·       Canada Specialist website and e-newsletter (CSP News every two months)

Trade shows

Conozca Canada

Rendez-vous Canada

For details on these events and more, check out our Trade Shows & Events.

Trade familiarization trips

Several trade familiarization (FAM) trips throughout the year support CTC partners. FAM trips give Mexican tour operators a chance to experience new destinations for themselves, giving them more intimate knowledge of the country so they can better evoke the experience for their customers.

Media Read more > Close >

To capture the imagination of the Mexican media, CTC-Mexico assists with partnered press trips that send hundreds of media to Canadian destinations. Our plan for 2013 is to feature at least one Canadian Signature Experiencein all our FAM trips and to link all our media activities to social media. Every month we release a special newsletter featuring the most important stories from our main provincial offices partners (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec).

We also provide and pitch targeted story ideas. The strategy includes an even greater focus on social and online media outlets.

 

Inbound travel to Canada from Mexico
  2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Overnight trip to Canada (000's) 178.9 202.1 230.2 257.2 161.2 115.9
Year to year change 6.1% 13.0% 13.9% 11.7% -37.3% -28.1%
Receipts ($M) 239.7 273.8 300.7 363.9 231.4 158.0
Year to year change 3.3% 14.2% 9.8% 21.0% -36.4% -31.7%
Source: International Travel Survey, Statistics Canada.

Quick facts Read more > Close >

 

  • In 2011, Mexico achieved moderate economic growth of 3.9%, though consumer sentiment deteriorated towards the last quarter. (Source: Oxford Economics, July 2012)
  • Mexican outbound travel contracted 0.5% compared with 2010, a decrease primarily due to uncertainty created by poor global economic performance, but also by an increase in domestic tourism. During 2011, more Mexicans preferred to stay in their home country.
  • Despite the contraction in outbound travel, overnight trips to Canada by Mexicans grew 7.2% over 2010.
  • In 2011, Mexican visitors spent almost $176 million during their visits in Canada, an 11.9% increase over 2010.
  • Trip purpose was split among business (26%), visiting friends and relatives (21%), pleasure (26%) and other reasons 27%, which includes study and education-related travel.
  • Travel for those between 25 and 34 years of age surged 50% in 2011, although the largest segment of travellers to Canada (27%) was those aged 24 years and younger.
  • In 2011, British Columbiawas the most popular Canadian destination, capturing 39% of all province visits, followed by Ontarioat 28% and Quebecat 23%.

Source: Statistics Canada, International Travel Survey, unless otherwise indicated.All Statistics Canada numbers are preliminary.

Current trends and market considerations Read more > Close >

The Mexican market is maintaining momentum and there are strong signals that this market’s recovery is on track. Following the implementation of a visa requirement in 2009, overnight arrivals declined 55% to a low of 116,000 overnight arrivals in 2010. Subsequently Canada grew arrivals by 15% to an estimated 134,000 in 2012. The CTC estimates 5% growth in 2013 to 141,000 overnight arrivals. Further good news is the promising revenue picture, with Mexicans spending more per trip. Overnight revenue from the Mexican market was up nearly 13% in 2011 to $177.3 million.

Inflation is forecast at 4.1%, above the Bank of Mexico’s 3% target. While the Mexican peso continued to depreciate against the major currencies in 2012 (including the Canadian dollar), it is forecast to appreciate 3% against the loonie in 2013 and 9% by 2016.

Nonstop seat capacity between Mexico City and Canada is scheduled to increase 4% in 2013. An increase of 4% is also scheduled between Mexico’s three urban centres (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey) and the four most important US hubs that connect travellers to Canada (Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix and Atlanta). The CTC estimates that 27% of Mexican visitors to Canada arrive on a flight that connects in the US.

For destinations willing to weather the market’s recovery, there is significant potential in the Mexican market. There are nearly four million long-haul travellers in that country. When asked to list up to three long-haul destinations they were seriously considering for a holiday, 21% of these travellers mentioned Canada in the CTC’s 2011 Global Tourism Watch. Although lower than in prior years, this is much higher than Canada’s competitors in Europe and South America. Canada is second only to the US.

A 2010 study among Mexican travellers suggested that visiting historical sites, shopping, city activities and experiencing an interesting culture were among the most important motivators when choosing a long-haul holiday destination. The Global Tourism Watch identifies these travel activities as weaknesses for Canada.

Air Canada flies directly from Mexico City to Vancouver, BC, and Toronto, ON, while Aeromexico also has direct flights from Mexico City to Montréal, QC.
 

Contact our team Read more > Close >

Contact our team for more information.

Latest Campaigns Read more > Close >

A selection of ads from CTC's most recent campaign.

 

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