Travel Agent Central recently caught up Kent M. Swig, chairman of Visit Mexico USA. Launched in June, the privately run entity represents a dramatic change from Mexico’s prior tourism mechanism. It’s a product of the decision in 2019 by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to disband the Mexico Tourism Board. The President reallocated the Board’s annual $300 million budget (collected from hotel and visitor taxes) to internal projects, such as the Maya train on the Yucatan.
The move—and the uncertainty that followed—left a temporary gap, but a new format slowly came into focus. The government engaged a privately funded Mexican tourism marketing agency company called Braintivity to handle tourism promotion. Braintivity in turn created a new entity named Visit Mexico to take the place of the former Tourism Board.
In a press statement earlier this summer, Braintivity/Visit Mexico described itself as “a private organization and self-funded strategy that is bringing a unique and breakthrough approach to marketing and promoting the wonderful virtues of the entire country of Mexico.” The statement added that over the past two years and during the pandemic, the company has been “developing platforms, creating worldwide international alliances and focusing on a strategy.” Visit Mexico plans to open key offices in worldwide locations, such as Canada, Japan and major European cities.
A New York City office opened in June, with the official name of Visit Mexico USA. Based in Midtown Manhattan, the new entity holds exclusive rights to promote, manage and market Mexico to the U.S. audience. Principals of Visit Mexico USA include Swig (a businessman and real estate investor whose family founded Fairmont Hotels), businessman and former New York State government official Gary K. Levi and Alvaro Vitolo, an international business development executive with extensive Mexican business experience.
At the launch, Swig spoke in broad terms about far-reaching programs to help Mexican businesses and increase interest in the country’s cultural highlights. In his conversation with Travel Agent Central, Swig expanded a bit on those plans, and also described his own interest in undertaking this unique endeavor.
TAC: You have a background in New York real estate. What made you gravitate to tourism promotion in Mexico?
Swig: First of all, I want to say it is an honor and a privilege to be able to work on behalf of a country and its civilian population. I’ve traveled to Mexico a lot in my life. I’m a surfer, golfer and hiker. I love the ruins. I like the language and food. I love Mexico, so this was very attractive to me. But, beside a love of the country, I was attracted by the challenge of taking a public enterprise and privatizing it for the public good. What the government of Mexico is doing is highly unique and unusual in that they have privatized the industry of tourism to a group of people. I’m hoping it will prove to be a very wise and inciteful decision that they’ve made.
TAC: How are things going thus far?
Swig: It’s an enormous amount of pressure because we have to perform and provide over 40 million visitors from the states. We are not cavalier in that we think we know everything. We are re-examining everything about what tourism is and the industry. For instance, if you look at the Mexican population there are 90 million people there. Of that 90 million, some 80 percent of them have a smartphone. But, if you look at the businesses of Mexico only 20 percent of them are digitized. That means they don’t have the technology to even speak with their own population. So, what do you do about that? We are creating program to offer the businesses that have no digital capability free digital capability so they can speak to their citizens. We are providing it free because it increases opportunities in all the businesses. We think if we can digitize most of the businesses the GNP could increase four to five percent annually.
TAC: How are you planning to fund that?
Swig: We are working with those companies; we’re matching people with businesses. As businesses grow, our marketing opportunities grow and we will be making money through the growth of Mexico. If it doesn’t work we’re in trouble and we will find ways to keep ourselves going and at the same time we are doing things that the tourism industry would not be doing, i.e., trying to digitize a society.
TAC: Travel advisors were used to a very detailed and information-packed Mexico tourism website. What are the plans for the current Visit Mexico USA site?
Swig: We are revamping the entire site. It will have a public side and a side where people will be able to make bookings. We are making it interactive; not to compete or take away from travel agents but to enhance and help promote Mexico. At the beginning, we’re going to be using some of the existing booking mechanisms that are out there. Also, as part of what’s going on with revamping of the web, we’re going to market different components of Mexico. For example, fishing and golf, the beaches, weddings and others that haven’t been done before.
TAC: What other tourism segments are you planning to focus on?
Swig: We are doing things with cooking and the whole culinary experience with Mexico. One of the things we’re trying to do is host major events in Mexico, so people will spend money to go there. We’re looking at live streaming events to the Mexican population. We want them to see us as a benefit. The Mexico Chamber of Commerce in America, all the companies that want to do business in America, we’re looking at opportunities with them. Because we are a private organization, there is no bureaucracy. Just like anyone else we will make mistakes, but we can move and pivot quickly and react to things as they come up.
TAC: You’ve mentioned a desire to increase interest in cultural aspects of Mexico, such as its pyramids. Can you expand on that concept?
Swig: Mexico has a ton of pyramids. We’re putting a program together to go to all the high school students. Many of them have never taken a trip to Mexico. Instead of going to party there, we want them to know there is another reason to go. Why not take an educational tour to study the Aztecs and the Mayas. We think as part of all high school education, there should be a trip to Mexico. Visit Mexico USA has access to hotels and airlines and can design a program for high school kids that will be affordable. It’s a brand-new way to get to people at a young age with something that is both fun and interesting.
TAC: How has the pandemic affected your plans to promote Mexico?
Swig: We are living in a time of COVID, so safety is critically important. The first thing we are doing is to get the message out that Mexico is a safe place to be. We’re helping to give screenings and tests to hospitality workers. We’re working with the government and private enterprise on a national safety campaign. We are also talking about physical safety. We want to talk openly about where there is crime and where there isn’t crime.
TAC: Can you tell us about any other initiatives that you have made progress on thus far?
Swig: Yes, here is something else we’re working on. We know that 15 percent of the world’s population has a physical handicap. When a person who has a handicap travels, a minimum of three to four other people go with them. That’s a lot of people to go after. We are putting together a national program with all the businesses, to welcome all handicapped people to come visit Mexico. We’re doing handicap sensitivity. This is a massive business opportunity. We’re putting together a national policy on all fronts to embrace and welcome handicapped travelers.
TAC: Can you provide details about how you will work with travel advisors?
Swig: We’re going to have strong outreach to travel advisors, absolutely. One of the things that’s critical is understanding there are roughly 124,000 travel agents in the states. That is life sustaining blood for Mexico. It’s important because in great economic times, people say, ‘let’s cut commissions.’ But you don’t cancel your fire insurance just because you haven’t had any fires. The travel agents are like an insurance policy. You don’t know when business is going to get bad or not. You have to support, honor and nourish them. They are the front people on the lines to get travelers to Mexico and that’s very important. We are working hand in glove with ASTA. We’re continuing the infrastructure that’s there. Our goal is to enhance and expand upon it and listen to what is needed.
TAC: Speaking of infrastructure, what is still in place internally with Mexico’s tourism structure?
Swig: There is a Ministry of Tourism. They still exist. They privatized the business of going to get travelers. We need a health and handicap policy; we want crime information so that people who are nervous know that it is safe. We are going to take the traditional ways of doing business and expand and enhance them. As for the local and state tourism boards, we are working with all of them in the same way as before. On the federal level, the money is not being spent on tourism. That has to come privately. We have a direct, wonderful working relationship with the Mexican government. We are taking the best of private enterprise and best of government representation. We may be opening offices in Los Angeles, in San Francisco and other places. We’ve been so busy and we haven’t encountered naysayers. There’s been an incredible rush of people wanting to participate and help and that’s refreshing.
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