WestJet Vacations Annual Mexico Expo Kicks Off In Vancouver

Over 100 travel professionals turned out for WestJet Vacations’ fourth annual Mexico Expo at the Terminal City Club in Vancouver last night.

Together with the Mexico Tourism Board and supplier partners from a host of resorts and delegates from a diverse range of destinations in Mexico, WestJet Vacations hosted a trade show and networking reception complete with themed costumes and cuisine, followed by an information seminar that brought agents up to date on the latest Mexico news.

Cesar Mendoza, The Mexico Tourism Board’s director, Western Canada, said that this year’s statistics show that for the first time, 50 per cent of all Canadian travellers to Mexico are originating from the West.

“1.2 million Canadians visited Mexico last winter season and flew direct- 50 per cent of them came from Western Canada,” Mendoza said.

WestJet Vacations’ airline partner WestJet will be introducing new service from Calgary to Loreto this winter, set to begin in Feb. 2015. WestJet currently offers more flights to Mexico than any other Canadian carrier.

In addition to the introduction of the new destination for Western travellers, top of line news, according to Emily Spadafora, WestJet Vacations’ sales rep for B.C. and Alberta, is the recent launch of the travel resource website.

“This is the first time we have had a place to house all of our information for travel agents,” Spadafora said. “It’s one area where you can go and log in all of your resource sites, all the ‘jet mails’ are there in historical order, and all the marketing tools and information about WestJet and WestJet Vacations you could possibly want  are there.”

A procession of delegates from Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Oaxaca, Cozumel, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo were brought up on stage to speak about all the tourism, marketing and hotel developments in their respective destinations.

Ixtapa continues to develop its eco tourism and adventure products; and Oaxaca has announced that the famed Formula One races will be coming to Mexico City next year.

Mazatlan has made multi-million dollar investments into refurbishing and invigorating the colonial downtown areas, and announced that cruise lines Norwegian and Holland America will be returning for the upcoming wave season after pulling out in 2012.

Cancun announced the development of new resorts on the north end of the beach-front hotel strip, and plans are in the works to develop Playa Mujeres, an up and coming destination on Quintana Roo’s Isla Mujeres, located about 20 minutes from downtown Cancun.

The Mexico Expo continues this week with venues in Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.  

*Photo: Emily Spadafora, WestJet Vacations' sales rep, B.C. & Alberta, Cesar Mendoza, director, MTB, Western Canada, Tami Brown, product buyer, WestJet Vacations, and Yehudi Altman, product manager, WestJet Vacations.