Asami Shida smiles at the slightest provocation and is contagious. She is proud to be known as Natalia Lafourcade’s Japanese friend. She worked with Guillermo Eguiarte, head of the defunct Mexican Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) in the Asia-Pacific region, based in Tokyo, and she is now the representative of Los Cabos in Japan. And he enjoys it.
With his unmatched experience in tourism promotion, Rodrigo Esponda, director of the Los Cabos Tourism Trust (FITURCA), knew he had to work with Asami in its careful strategy of diversifying source markets (last month the luxury destination received the first direct flight of the airline Cóndor, from Frankfurt, Germany, with 200 passengers).
One objective of the relationship is to take advantage of all the knowledge generated in the CPTM, which was disregarded by the federal administration that ended on the last day of recent September.
It is estimated that by the end of this year, some 7,000 tourists from Japan, attracted by golf, gastronomy and whales, will have arrived in Los Cabos. The direct connectivity that Mexico has with Aeroméxico and ANA flights, in addition to the possibility of arriving with a stopover in the United States, facilitates arrivals, but promotion must be done. You have to invest in promotion.
As a first result of familiarization trips, Asami usually shows the cover of a Japanese golf magazine where the exclusive Quivira Golf Club, owned by businessman Ernesto Coppel, appears.
“It is a very relevant magazine in Japan. We invited the editorial team in April and they published an eight-page article on Los Cabos. They loved Quivira. The truth is that Rodrigo Esponda’s support is total. We are going to have very good results with this promotion and more tourists from my country will arrive,” he told this space.
In addition, they invited Yuto Sugiura, manager of México Travel Factory (wholesale with an office in Cancún), to participate in the Los Cabos VIP Summit, the main local business meeting.
That company will close in 2024 with about 1,500 Japanese tourists arriving mainly in Cancun. These are honeymooners between 25 and 38 years old who have high purchasing power, who are looking for memorable and luxury experiences, with a stay of between five and seven days. Then they look for another destination to make good on their long trip to Mexico.
On an inspection tour, Sugiura visited Los Cabos and “fell in love” with the place. The whales captivated him, as did the gastronomy and hospitality. He thinks that as long as the signage in his language improves, his compatriots will be more comfortable.
On more than one occasion, the director of FITURCA (an expert in putting together work teams made up of experts that really help to promote the destination and make proper use of budgetary resources) has said that the objective of Los Cabos is to continue increasing the average tourist spending, always privileging sustainable development.
If it’s within your means, don’t miss the whale watching season that’s underway. The experience is wonderful, they say.
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By the way: From this Saturday space we wish you the best for these December celebrations and, as my friend Hiroshi Takahashi said, “may they be a few days that restore strength to the body and mind. Thank you for your company.” We return on January 11.
