| | |  Vallarta Living | June 2009 
Spotlight on Vallarta: Promoting Tourism
 David Olvera - PVNN
| | A more targeted approach of promoting and marketing local businesses is the best way to bring tourists back to Puerto Vallarta. | |
This Swine Flu crisis has affected every business here in Puerto Vallarta, causing hardship after hardship. During these past few weeks I have listened to people's ideas on what can be done to end this crisis in Puerto Vallarta. In my opinion all the ideas I have listened to have good intentions, but the actual benefit of bringing tourist back is insignificant at best.
| | David Olvera is the General Manager of SF Productions, a full service video production and marketing company in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. You can contact him at david(at)sfproductionstv.com. | |
In my opinion there is only one way to truly bring back the tourists in large numbers, and that is through the PROMOTION of Puerto Vallarta. Now what does "promotion" mean? Does it mean a generic feel good music video commercial, showing all the beautiful scenery in Mexico, aired on a network television channel in the States? Maybe. I think that this could entice some people to vacation in Mexico, but are they going to come specifically to Puerto Vallarta? I think not.
So what I believe is needed is a more targeted approach. I was recently watching television when a commercial came on in Spanish, on a local station. It was advertising an offer for a 5-day stay in Cancun, a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas and a 5-day Disneyland vacation package. It also included airfare, for $10,000 pesos. The ad was sponsored by the Cancun Tourism Department. Targeting Mexican nationals might get some immediate, short term results, but the real money and the largest demographic of the visitors that come to Puerto Vallarta are Americans and Canadians.
This is where I truly believe we need to focus our attention, as a city. As you know, Americans plan their vacations three to six months out. Three to six months from right now, puts us in the beginning of the high season, perfect timing for Puerto Vallarta to have the biggest high season of all time. This is what is needed to truly recover from this crisis!
I believe Puerto Vallarta needs to immediately start an aggressive television marketing campaign, specifically targeting our American and Canadian markets. For example the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, with a comprehensive, discounted, multi offer package to visit specifically Puerto Vallarta. This could be very similar to the "Fly and Buy" programs run by the Timeshare and Real Estate industries. This is the only viable answer, in my opinion, and I hope the Sr. Enrique Tovar at the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board will take a look at this option and pursue it vigorously.
I also believe that each individual business needs to do its part. The most effective and cost efficient way to do this, in my opinion, is to advertise on Banderasnews.com, because it is targeted to English speaking tourists interested in visiting or living in Puerto Vallarta and it gets thousands of visitors every day.
There are currently Government guaranteed loans available for Mexican and foreign owned business. Banks are currently conducting seminars on how to apply. These funds should be used exclusively for advertising purposes in my opinion, if you wish to get through this crisis.
David Olvera is the General Manager of SF Productions, a full service video production and marketing company in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. You can contact him at david(at)sfproductionstv.com. |
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