Tourism officials will undertake a promotional tour to the United States to seek to reverse the decline in U.S visitors to Mexico and in particular the Caribbean coast, said the Quintana Roo tourism secretary.

Marisol Vanegas Pérez said she was informed by the federal Secretariat of Tourism that the visit to the United States will be part of the tourism promotion program known as Operación Toca Puertas (Operation door-knocking).

The trip will be the second under the auspices of the program after Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco led a delegation to China earlier this month. However, it is unclear exactly when it will happen.

Vanegas said that about four million U.S. tourists are expected to visit Quintana Roo this year but predicted that visitor numbers will be as much as 27,000 fewer than in 2018.

While tourism to the Caribbean coast state from Mexico’s northern neighbor is on the wane, that from Canada and South America is experiencing double-digit growth and visitor numbers from Europe were up 9% to the end of August, the secretary said.

Overall visitor numbers to Quintana Roo in 2019 are expected to be up 2-3% compared to last year as a result of the strong growth from those markets.

Vanegas attributed the decline of United States visitors to the anti-immigration rhetoric of the U.S. government.

“If other markets are growing at double-digit [rates], how can we understand that the United States is not? The rhetoric that permeates in the media, which has to do with the re-election process of the current president, is very visible. The migrant and border situation mean that the end of year outlook for [tourism from] the United States is not so favorable,” she said.

However, Vanegas expressed confidence that the U.S. promotional tour will help to turn things around.

“. . .We trust that together with the [federal tourism] secretary, we’ll be able to address the structural and perception causes” that are contributing to a downturn in tourism from the United States, she said.

Source: El Economista (sp)