Brand USA Urges Mexicans to Ignore Hostile White House Rhetoric and Visit U.S. Andrea Navarro - Bloomberg
go to original May 13, 2017

Brand USA has the right idea: Be proactive about marketing, and soon, because Mexican tourists are already choosing other destinations that are less hostile — Sarah Enelow

A public-private partnership created six years ago to boost U.S. tourism has a message for Mexicans: We welcome you, even if it may seem like President Donald Trump doesn’t.

After a drop in travel since Trump took office in January, Brand USA is launching a digital marketing campaign in Mexico this month with the slogan “Planifica tu viaje a USA ahora” — Plan your trip to the U.S. now. The goal is to convince Mexicans that Trump’s vow to build a wall along the southern border, ban travelers from some countries and tighten visa screenings shouldn’t keep them from packing a suitcase and heading north.

“Nothing has changed about how our friends and visitors from Mexico plan their trip to the U.S. and how they enter the country,” said Chris Thompson, chief executive officer of the Washington-based group. “We’re really working on separating the perception versus the reality. There’s been a lot of conversation, but nothing legally has changed.”



The reason behind the push is simple: Mexicans are the second-largest group of visitors to the U.S. after Canadians, and in 2015 alone they spent almost $20 billion. But the task isn’t easy. Anti-Trump sentiment and a weaker peso have already affected travel to the U.S. Air traffic from Mexico to U.S. leisure destinations dropped for the first two months of the year, according to Mexico’s Communications and Transportation Ministry.

It’s not that Mexicans aren’t traveling; they may be headed to Canada instead. Airports in Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Denver clocked fewer visitors coming from Mexico City and Guadalajara in the first two months of 2017, while Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver saw a surge in traffic from Mexico’s capital. Read the rest at Bloomberg

Related: Mexicans Get Trump’s Message and Head to Canada Instead (Bloomberg)

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