Vancouver BC, Canada - The first Mexi-Go! Travel and Trade Expo was a key element of this year’s MexicoFest program in Vancouver. The audience changed every day so, on Friday our 39 exhibitors had the opportunity to showcase their products and destinations to baby boomers, retirees and several downtown business executives; and on Saturday, middle-aged couples and young families visited the Expo.

Mexi-Go! Marketing Strategies carried out an aggressive promotional campaign prior the event to promote and encourage Vancouverites to attend the Expo. The Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers were the official media sponsors by printed and online promotional campaigns and offered two trips giveaways.

Additional media in Canada such as 24hrs, Travel Press, The Epoch Times, Montreal Gazette, Hummingbird604, Perfect Wedding magazine, and HelloWestTravel covered the event. Mexican media also followed the event, including El Occidental, BizNews Magazine, The Yucatan Times, PVPulse, and Banderas News. The combined circulation of all the printed and online articles reached an audience of over a million people.

The Expo in Numbers:

• An audience of 2,214 people attended the two-day event

• The Lorena Ochoa Foundation will receive a donation of $300 CAD

• Two trips to Mexico given through contest by The Vancouver Sun and The Province, a record 4,681 entries were received

• The value of the media coverage generated before and after the event has an estimated value of over $131,000 CAD

• Two local Vancouver Chinese newspapers covered the Expo

Joel Hansen, Director of Business Development at Mexi-Go!, stated, "We are very satisfied with the results, we were successful attracting the right audience for our exhibitors from baby boomers interested in retirement options or long-stays, travel agents wanting to connect with tourism representatives, young adults and families interested in vacation options to people ready to invest in Mexico. As a matter of fact, several of our exhibitors from the real estate industry had solid sales leads of over a million dollars."

Royal Club Real Estate Project Manager, Aaron Fisher, expressed the importance of his participation at the Expo by saying, "Thanks for putting on such a great event. Not only did we get tons of qualified leads, but we had a great time doing it. Your event is second to none and got us plugged right into the demographic we had been looking for. Anyone who is trying to access Western Canada needs to sign up with you guys. Thanks a ton for coming through on everything you promised and then some. Sign us up for the next show!"

Mexi-Go! magazine publisher Madeline Milne had the opportunity to talk to other Canadians about living in Mexico. "My main message is to talk positively about Mexico, to tell other Canadians that Mexico is a great place to live, visit and, in our case, to start a business. We are here for the long run and we will continue promoting Mexico in Canada," she said.

MexicoFest

This annual Mexican Independence festival included various events throughout the city promoting Mexican art, culture, traditions, cuisine, and showcasing the host destinations, Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit. The traditional Mexico Independence Fiesta, which took place on September 8th alongside the Vancouver Convention Centre, hosted more than 10,000 eager Canadians and Mexicans in this celebration.

In a recent meeting the Mexi-Go! team and MexicoFest Organizing Committee set the new dates for next year’s Festival and Expo, and are proud to announce that once more Mexi-Go!, ProMexico, the Mexico Tourism Board, the Mexican Consulate, and TechBA have agreed to promote Mexico together through the Festival and the Expo. For Expo 2013 Mexi-Go! has plans to partner with the Association of Canadian Travel Agents to coordinate exclusive educational seminars for travel agents, an added value for participating Mexican destinations.

Canadian Visitors

According to recent stats released by the Integrated Immigration Operation System (Sistema Integral de Operacion Migratoria), Canadians could break yet another record in the amount of visitors to Mexico this year - with over 1 million during the first semester.