Tourism Board Presents Year-End Report
The Tourism Board of Puerto Vallarta presented a year-end report of
activities at a press conference held in the board office in the Canto
del Sol Complex.
The Board’s efforts as to promotion, advertising and public relations
were considered “encouraging” by the members of the board
presiding over the press conference. The 2009 activity forecast was
also presented to the media representatives gathered at the press conference.
Current issues affecting tourist activity were also briefly discussed
during the question and answer session that followed the initial presentation.
The
Tourism Board's mandate is to promote and advertise Puerto Vallarta
as a world-class tourist destination, and is funded by the City Hall
with hotel tax money.
Its efforts branch out in three main categories: Promotion, advertising
and Public Relations.
As to the first category, 141 promotional events were either attended
or organized by the Board, 66 of which were held in American cities,
30 took place in Canada. Only marginal efforts are carried out in Europe
and South America, while Mexico gets attention comparable to that of
Canada.
The PV PRO training program has elicited great interest from travel
agents. A total 1301 travel agents have graduated from the online program,
out of 4183 registered. It is expected that the number of graduates
will double in 2009 as compared to 2008.
It was announced that January 1, PV PERKS will kick off. This is a
rewards program for travel agents, which is expected to result in a
larger number of hotel nights sold and increased promotion to the destination.
More info available at www.pv-pro.com.
The Tourism Board constantly releases communiqués to national
and international specialized publications, and hosts specialized journalists
from all media. In 2008, 88 journalists from TV, magazines and electronic
media visited from United States, Canada and Mexico. Their visits turned
out as 200 articles printed in Mexico, a 13 million peso worth of PR;
and 300 articles in America, worth 10.8 million dollars.
Public Relations activities include a number of press conferences held
in United States, Canada and Mexico.
Marketing efforts during 2008 at a cost of 29.5 million pesos. The
Turism Board participates in joint marketing campaigns with the Mexican
Council for Tourist Promotion (CPTM, Spanish initials), and the Tourism
Secretariat of Jalisco (Setujal) as well as wholesalers and airlines.
The brand name Puerto Vallarta’s joint marketing efforts in 2008
are worth nearly 62 million pesos.
In 2009 Puerto Vallarta will host a number of international events
that attract visitors. Art and gastronomic festivals and sports events
have gained an important following.
The Wine Fest will take place here late February. The 11th International
Pyrotechnics Symposium is a long awaited event to light up the bay’s
sky.
For the second consecutive year the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2008
Qualifier Concacaf will be held in this destination next April.
The Restaurant Week is set to take place in May and the Meeting Place
Mexico 2009, a specialized event of the incentive and convention sector
will be held in June 2009.
Puerto Vallarta’s aim for 2009 is set on its natural markets.
The state of the international economy will force the tourism board
to pinpoint its promotional effort as resources are foreseen as limited
by an expensive dollar and lesser tax revenue.
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