Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez was in Toronto last week as part of an economic mission to promote and drive Canadian investment into the state. Travel Pulse Canada was invited to sit down with him for an exclusive, one-on-one interview and to meet with senior representatives of Canada’s largest tour operators.

The visit was also intended to showcase a Quintana Roo which extends beyond the northern part of the state, highlighting medical and wellness tourism.

As we first reported just two weeks ago, the new administration in Mexico will close ninety-five percent of all Mexico Tourism offices around the world, with the exception of New York City, Berlin and Tokyo, which will remain open for the foreseeable future.

While the cost savings from the closures are unknown, the Governor confirmed the bulk of the savings will be allocated to the development of a new (and controversial among locals),a rail system that will link an area near the Mayan Ruins called Palenque with the Caribbean coast of Cancun. The project is expected to cost nearly seven and a half billion dollars and is part of an overall investment in southern Mexico.

“Driving investment in the southern part of the state is key to the growth strategy,” said Governor Gonzalez. “For the most part, 100% of the investment coming into the region has been in the northern part of the state. My strategy is to diversify the attraction of investors to bring hospitals, and drive medical and wellness tourism and the travel industry in general.”

Medical tourism is on the rise and is not something new to Mexico. “Cancun has a tremendous opportunity to see medical tourism grow, as does the southern part of the state,” said Governor Gonzalez. “Both the Canadian and US markets are of great interest to us. Currently, there is a substantial number of US citizens who travel to Quintana Roo for medical procedures and we expect that to grow.”

The Cancun region has close to 30,000 rooms while all of Quintana Roo has a total of 100,000 rooms. The Cancun region is in the top five most recognized destinations brands in the world by consumers, additionally, more than fifty percent of all flights to Mexico out of Canada are headed to the region with Canadians representing the second largest in terms of international arrivals with sixteen percent growth. The Governor has visited Washington, DC on more than one occasion to discuss numbers and security strategies with the state department during the last two years and says the impact of the current US administration position as it relates to Mexico has had a fairly minimal impact on their tourism industry.

There was a decline of approximately thirty percent on arrivals during the summer months but that number rebounded in the fall, with marginal growth. The country is still seeing a decline in US arrivals year over year, of approximately 20 percent.

When asked how Mexico was going to maintain its presence in the Canadian market with the closure of the Canada office, the Governor admitted that it was definitely a problem for the region.

“We need more promotion for Mexico, however independently of that we have created the CPTQ (the Tourist Promotion Council of Quintana Roo), an entity in charge of promoting our eleven municipalities, which will continue to participate in promotional opportunities, conferences and trade activities in markets such as Canada.

“Tourism is our main economic activity and I am fully aware of the necessity to promote Mexico” he concluded.

The overall growth strategy for the region is within the 5-10 year window. With Chetumal International Airport tucked away in the southernmost part of Quintana Roo, one could argue half the battle for the growth is already out of the way.