Los Cabos Is a Model for Mexico’s Events Industry After Tourism Board Closure
Photo Credit: Hilton resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. Cities in Mexico are looking to Los Cabos as a model to ramp up their own events industry in the wake of the closure of the country's tourism board. Flickr / Thomas Hawk
Skift Take
Los Cabos' name recognition and infrastructure give it a huge advantage, so it makes sense that it emerged as a leader in the events space. Still, the city's reworked meetings strategy has important info for other destinations.
The sudden dissolution of the Mexico Tourism Board in February dismayed many in the country's meetings industry, striking a blow to both leisure and business travel.
In Los Cabos, however, the local tourism board was prepared. The resort city gets a good chunk of its tourism from events, and its response was quick and powerful, setting up a private trust and building up its meetings program. Now other destinations in Mexico are following suit, looking at the Los Cabos model to ramp up their own events industry in the wake of the board’s closure.
“The destination is really moving forward in a very strong way in the meetings industry, because the future of Los Cabos — in terms of what is happening with the hotels and infrastructure — is completely connected to the meetings industry,” said Rodrigo Esponda, managing director of Visit Los Cabos, the city's tourism board.
Esponda previously spent 17 years working with the Mexico Tourism Board, and now that the board is dis
