Bay of Banderas, an ideal setting for meetings tourism

Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, a world-class brand in meetings tourism. Strategic advantages for this growing industry.

By María Karina Macías Aguirre

According to specialists in the field, meetings tourism is one of the most valuable and stable segments of the industry. What makes this niche generate attractions and benefits for destinations? What geographic scenarios are emerging as ideal for this industry?

Meeting tourism is important because it acts as a catalyst for investment, economic growth, and business development.

It is a basic means for transmitting ideas, experiences, and knowledge and contributes to improving the reputation of host cities.

The tourism activity, since its origins, has been promoted as the industry of “leisure and well-being.” However, work activities are not exempt from requiring minimal inputs to ensure that a group of people who gather together to carry out activities related to a theme, work, or business can have the utmost comfort during the process. In this way, meetings tourism gained relevance and was considered a market niche where organizers, intermediaries, and operators face the challenge of becoming the best hosts for those groups of people who travel to a tourist destination for this purpose.

Strengths of business tourism

Mexico's tourism success in recent years, as well as its positioning in the events market, represents a strength for the continuity of international meetings. This is the result of the confidence generated by the quality of services provided by the various tourism service providers, which are related to the following factors.

Hotels and tourism service providers have been characterized by their excellent treatment of guests or clients, which has generated significant positioning in rankings when choosing a place for business meetings.
They provide warm and hospitable customer service.
In recent years there has been a growth in the hotel infrastructure and in the meeting facilities.
The competitiveness of this segment has increased internationally, which in turn has led to constant training by suppliers and entrepreneurs in the sector to improve quality standards.

The foregoing frames a series of strategies implemented by organizers, congress professionals, venue administrators and hoteliers, to meet the demands of this market niche.

Advantages of Bahía de Banderas for meeting tourism

Puerto Vallarta & Riviera Nayarit They represent one of the top five destinations in the minds of Mexican consumers. This leads various organizers to consider the destination as the venue for their events.

Its hotel offer is varied and has the necessary infrastructure to compete with other national and international destinations.
The organizers, intermediaries and operators master a language different from that of the known leisure tourism or "leisure"in which the names of Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit are already positioned in the market.
Sun and beach are the ideal setting for meeting tourism. The name of a sun-and-beach tourist destination can increase the number of conference attendees and/or visitors at such events by as much as 321%.

Meeting Tourism: Benefits for the Sector

Meetings tourism generates significant benefits for the tourism sector. Among others, we can mention the following:

Promotes the creation and development of micro, small and medium-sized companies.
Improves occupancy in low seasons up to a 42%
Raise the average stay in the destination by up to 5.3 nights per visitor.
Regulates the seasonality of tourist demand.
It contributes to raising up to 38% the average expenditure of visitors.
Generates the creation of multiple programs and activities for companions
It supports the generation and distribution of income from tourism in the towns.

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranked Mexico in 21st place in 2016, among the nations where more events of this nature. The goal is to continue positioning the industry and improve in the rankings, with the Vallarta-Nayarit brand being one of the favorite destinations for MICE tourism.