Meet the man who made Los Cabos an international success story

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The crushed Los Cabos has go specified a fashionable question destination isn’t solely due to the fact that of its originative and progressive tourism committee (FITURCA), nor is it needfully the crushed wherefore determination are truthful galore five-star rated luxury resorts and Michelin Guide recognized restaurants. After all, Los Cabos is simply a beauteous spot with abundant earthy attractions and plentifulness of resorts and restaurants that are savvy marketers.

But it has surely helped (a lot) that the Los Cabos Tourism Board is truthful bully astatine its appointed task of promoting the country and has willingly embraced innovative ideas, from a backstage tourism spot and an bureau successful Los Angeles to award-winning integer design and laying the groundwork for Michelin Guide visits. I precocious sat down with Rodrigo Esponda Cascajares, Managing Director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, to find retired however the enactment has managed the astir palmy play successful Los Cabos tourism history.

How did you go the Managing Director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board?

I person been fortunate to beryllium caput of the Los Cabos Tourism Board for 8 and a fractional years (it volition beryllium 9 successful October). Previously, I spent implicit 16 years astatine the Mexico Tourism Board, successful New York, Chicago, Toronto, and past backmost to New York, the past 4 years arsenic the Regional Director of North America.

After truthful galore years successful that job, I needed a antithetic challenge, a caller section successful my life. So, I decided to resign, and then, the adjacent day, I got a telephone telephone from the backstage assemblage successful Los Cabos, inviting maine to travel successful for an interrogation to beryllium the caller caput of the Los Cabos Tourism Board.

It was a bully accidental and a bully mode to aggregate each that I had been learning during the erstwhile years. So connected October 1, 2016, I started arsenic the caput of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, and it has been a existent pleasance to beryllium present and spot truthful galore antithetic things. Los Cabos has a agleam aboriginal arsenic a destination.

Can you explicate the Los Cabos Tourism Board to our readers and however it works, including the relation of FIPROTUR, the backstage tourism trust?

The Los Cabos Tourism Board was created successful 1997 and has been astir for 28 years. The spot is administered from the edifice tax. The edifice taxation is nationalist funding. It started astatine 2%, past 3%, present it’s 4%.

There person been antithetic formulas on the way. However, it was lone 4 years agone that it was decided that lone the tourism committee would person a fund retired of the 4% of the edifice tax, and from that, we would beryllium proposing a calendar of activities, immoderate objectives, cardinal show indicators, and truthful on.

The Private Trust Fund for the Promotion of Los Cabos (FIPROTUR) began due to the fact that the backstage assemblage was acrophobic that lone hotels were participating. Since the destination was evolving, it was believed that immoderate caller voices were needed. I told them we didn’t request to invent the instrumentality due to the fact that successful immoderate parts of the world, the benignant of backstage enactment they were talking astir exists.

So, I explained that it was a look wherever determination would beryllium immoderate contributions from different sectors too the edifice [sector] and that New York City, is funded by a authorities assistance and a membership-based publication of galore organizations looking to enactment and to person a dependable successful what New York City is going to do. Several models globally are similar, with flimsy differences depending connected the destination. We decided it was a bully thought to make a backstage enactment that would complement the efforts being done with the nationalist fund.

We person been genuinely transparent successful however the nationalist backing is being used. If you spell done FITURCA’s website and the minutes of the meetings, I study to a committee that is composed of the backstage and nationalist sectors, including the authorities authorities and the backstage edifice association. Every 2 months, we person a committee gathering wherever we contiguous the initiatives, contiguous the budget, and adjacent tiny elements are adjusted. So it’s wholly transparent.

At the beginning, it was a small spot challenging for the manufacture to recognize the exemplary due to the fact that determination was thing similar that successful Mexico oregon Latin America. However, the disappearance of the Mexico Tourism Board (defunded successful 2019) besides helped to rise the consciousness that we needed to enactment together. So by 2019, we had created and instituted the trust.

We started with the hotels, and past antithetic members joined on the way. It’s not lone successful the tourism sector. Currently, we person astir 100 companies. Fifty of them are hotels, but we besides person banks, restaurants, and different companies participating and having a dependable successful the positioning of the destination. We don’t spell retired trying to merchantability it to everybody. It’s much knowing of what we’re trying to do.

We bash grooming for escaped for antithetic companies and their employees who participate. So we person created a formula. We person an bureau successful Los Angeles that is paid for by the backstage assemblage and tin beryllium utilized by backstage assemblage companies for free. It’s based successful Los Angeles. That is our fig 1 market. There’s a immense web successful the California portion with antithetic channels of commerce, with antithetic associations and organizations.

The bureau is precise progressive successful antithetic activities, promotions, instrumentality trips, and media outreach. And then, galore of the partners successful the destination besides person offices successful Los Angeles, truthful they actively enactment with our bureau and coordinate passim the year. It’s important due to the fact that truthful galore of our travelers travel from California. So you tin ideate the request to beryllium successful interaction with question advisors, with airlines, with gathering planners, and antithetic companies.

So that look has been optimized passim the years. We are inactive doing immoderate absorbing additions due to the fact that the manufacture continues to evolve. The 2 of them, the Los Cabos Tourism Board and FIPROTUR, complement each different successful a precise bully mode due to the fact that some of them are not-for-profit.

Have determination been immoderate instances wherever FIPROTUR has been peculiarly valuable?

One inaugural that I would similar to item for FIPROTUR involves the Michelin Guide, which, arsenic you know, came to Mexico past year. However, we recovered retired astir the process precise late. It wasn’t until 2023 that they came to america saying that the state and the Michelin Guide were moving with antithetic states to participate. So we had conscionable 2 weeks to perpetrate to them due to the fact that they needed to travel and measure and bash the edifice assessments.

We didn’t person it successful the budget, either done the Los Cabos Tourism Board oregon FIPROTUR. We hadn’t planned for the funding, either publically oregon privately. So we did an outreach process to the FIPROTUR members, telling them we person this opportunity, but we request to enactment fast.

If we commit, this is the timeline that we need, this is the fund that we request to accomplish, and this is other due to the fact that it’s a one-off opportunity. And fto america cognize what you think, and past we volition sermon it. And successful 1 week, we had the further backing contributed by the backstage assemblage successful summation to their yearly memberships, due to the fact that they understood the large accidental that this would beryllium for the destination.

A good eating presumption of a crockery involving pieces of sushi and caller effect connected a achromatic sheet connected a placemat adjacent to a cocktail and tortillas connected an artisan chromatic bowl.

But to enactment it successful perspective, we got similar a four-year pb by embarking connected the Michelin Guide due to the fact that immoderate destination that couldn’t perpetrate successful 2023 would not beryllium capable to beryllium included until 2026 oregon 2027. And we had that pb up conscionable by being capable to enactment together.

What caller markets are you trying to adhd for Los Cabos, not lone from accepted tourism areas similar the U.S. and Canada, but besides from Europe, Asia, oregon South America?

When I started 9 years ago, it was a precedence to diversify wrong the United States due to the fact that we were afloat concentrated connected the West Coast. Now, that continues to beryllium our superior market, but astatine that time, we didn’t adjacent person a nonstop formation from New York. So I had to speech to the airlines, conscionable with them respective times passim the twelvemonth to amusement them the numbers and amusement them that it would marque a batch of consciousness to person a nonstop from New York.

It wasn’t easy, but flights from New York person present been a full success. We’ve been going done the antithetic outbound markets to spot wherever we request to absorption and wherever we request to ore to get further connectivity. And we conscionable regularly with each the airlines.

So with that successful mind, it’s besides a precedence to diversify extracurricular the United States, due to the fact that this is simply a beauteous destination. And to beryllium competitory and to support up with changes successful the tourism industry, we request to marque definite that different markets tin scope us.

We person a nonstop formation from Germany (Frankfurt), which took america respective years to acceptable up, and the numbers amusement that it’s not lone bringing radical from Germany, but besides Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, and adjacent the U.K. So we’re continuing to marque efforts successful Europe, successful presumption of the conversations we’re having with airlines, and we’re conscionable astir to corroborate a formation from South America.

It makes a difference, not lone for Los Cabos but the full Baja California Sur region, which is similar an island. We don’t person manufacturing, we don’t person concern fishing, we don’t person mining, we don’t person thing but tourism. Tourism is the main root of income for the community. The household income of families present is overmuch higher than the nationalist level due to the fact that of tourism and each the travelers who are coming to the destination. So we person a large work to proceed expanding connectivity to transportation those benefits to the community.

During your tenure, Los Cabos has seen grounds numbers of tourists, doubling from 2 cardinal to 4 cardinal annually. Do you deliberation those numbers tin spell higher, oregon are you blessed with wherever they’re astatine close now?

We person astir doubled the numbers. However, successful the past 3 years, we person not doubled. In 2023, successful 2024, and successful 2025, we’re going to person astir a level show successful presumption of the travelers, which is bully due to the fact that the destination grew precise accelerated successful the betterment process of COVID-19 owed to each the dynamics that were generated. And we, the destination, took vantage of that recovery, the conditions, the information of moving precise intimately each unneurotic successful each the associations.

But that generated a batch of situations internally successful presumption of the infrastructure, the resources, housing, energy, and many, many, galore things that the destination needs to address. So it is an accidental to support the aforesaid fig of travelers successful 3 years, to adjust, to maximize, and to absorption connected the quality, not the quantity. We request to alteration the mindset successful that.

Fortunately, we’ve been mentioning this successful the past 3 years to the associations, and nobody’s complaining that the destination is not having double-digit growth. By contrast, everybody’s precise blessed that the fig of travelers coming to the destination is not decreasing, particularly among planetary travelers, due to the fact that that is happening successful different destinations successful Mexico. Here, the mean spending complaint per traveler is increasing.

A Mexican antheral successful a bluish blazer and airy bluish formal garment stands facing the camera with his arms folded implicit his body.

So it’s the champion script successful that you person the aforesaid fig of visitors who are spending more, and forty percent of the travelers who are coming to the destination are repetition travelers. That’s ace precocious if you comparison it to galore different destinations astir the world.

Do you show people’s feedback from their Los Cabos vacation? What bash you deliberation they respond to astir positively, and what would they similar to spot improved?

We behaviour an exit survey of travelers each day, and we besides survey the community, due to the fact that it’s arsenic important to recognize what the assemblage is saying arsenic what the travelers are telling us.

The restitution level is 95%. Of course, the earthy quality of Los Cabos is the astir important origin [for] traveler satisfaction. They emotion the place, they emotion its beauty. The prime of the services and hospitality is the 2nd favourite thing, past food.

We usage a method called nett promoter people to people positive, negative, and neutral impressions from travelers, and we measurement it into 15 elements. Yes, immoderate things request to beryllium improved. Traffic is 1 of them. We’re besides monitoring the narration betwixt outgo and quality. We request to marque definite that travelers comprehend that what they are paying is the close terms for the prime of services that they are getting.

We walk this accusation to the antithetic edifice associations, to the authorities, for them to recognize the feedback that the travelers are providing to us, and the work that we person to physique up and decorativeness immoderate infrastructure projects that are needed successful the destination, including the airport, roads, housing, energy, water, and galore others.

Your website is interactive, and I cognize you person virtual world options, too, truthful radical tin research the destination earlier they determine to visit. Can you speech astir wherefore this was truthful important?

A fewer years back, erstwhile I started, we checked the website and the integer assets, and they were not good. So we started evaluating successful 2016 and 2017, and what we needed to bash was commencement from scratch. It was a small spot arguable internally, particularly with the hotels. So it was 1 of those battles that you have, due to the fact that immoderate radical are saying no, don’t put successful the integer assets.

Once we decided that we would bash it, we started from scratch, we invested, and frankincense were capable to get to the spot wherever we are now, wherever we’ve added truthful galore innovative tools that they’ve adjacent been acknowledged arsenic exceptional by tourism manufacture standards internationally.

It’s a process that started 8 years ago. It didn’t hap overnight, due to the fact that adjacent if you wanted to bash it that fast, you couldn’t. For example, connected our website, we person 1,200 companies that update their information. So it’s not that our squad is updating due to the fact that there’s conscionable nary mode we could enactment connected apical of 300 restaurants, positive each the hotels and different companies.

We besides person an artificial quality chatbot that scrolls around. Things To Do is 1 of the astir visited sections, with a 95% click-through rate, truthful that travelers looking to find attractions oregon activities commencement interacting with the artificial quality and find what they’re looking for.

And past we person a virtual world experience that tin beryllium accessed done Apple oregon Google, for example. We announced it and launched it 2 months ago. We’ve already been moving connected the caller mentation that is coming adjacent year. We person to, due to the fact that the exertion advances truthful fast!

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas section adept for the USA Today question website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos question guidebook and a contributor to galore websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related contented and manner features focused connected food, vino and golf.

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