News
Businesses want tourists back in Mexico, border
By Daniel Newhauser, www.gvnews.com
Part of Green Valley’s charm used to be its proximity to Mexico, Terry Goddard, Arizona’s attorney general, says.
“Many people came to Green Valley originally because of the access to Mexico,” he said. “It was the recreation and, frankly, the low prices that was the draw.”
But in recent years, driven by fear of increased drug cartel violence, Mexico has suffered a serious image problem that has repelled tourists, he said. And as a result, Green Valley’s allure has diminished, too.
And that problem is ubiquitous for towns along the Southwest border, he added.
That’s why Goddard joined a summit Monday of government and business leaders from Mexico, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California to discuss ways to economically revitalize border communities and revive Mexican tourism.
“It seems to me we’re in a dual storm,” Goddard said after the summit. “One revolves around the cartel violence and the other revolves around the recession, and they’ve both hit Nogales.”
Meeting at the Tubac Golf Resort, the Bi-National Business Leadership Economic Summit drew more than 175 stakeholders from government, business and tourism sectors who formed an alliance to address commerce and economic development in the U.S.-Mexico region.
It was organized by Gael Sylvia Pullen, who with her husband, Mark, owns a McDonald’s franchises in Nogales. She said her businesses and many others have been struggling.
“The reason for this summit today is to be united and concerned,” she said.
Key topics included fostering policy, infrastructure and an image beneficial to tourism.
And though it seems familiar rhetoric, Goddard said the difference is who’s talking.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an awesome combination of the public and private sector,” he said. “I’m confident that the kind of framework that has been laid out will be successful.”
Goddard brought to the table confident optimism that he’d be able to curb cartel activity over the next few years.
“I really believe, for the first time in a long time, we’re making progress,” he said. “That helps to restore confidence. We have an opportunity here, born out of bad times, to be ready for the recovery.”
Nicolas D. Kyriakis Georgouses, a Nogales developer, said he hopes to create a tourism agency in Mexico that can address the image problem.
“We’ve never had a tourism office on the Mexico side because tourism was automatic,” he said. “We have to create a new community with the travel agencies... and create now a different image of the border.”
“It’s a joint effort. What benefits one side will benefit the other side,” he added. “If we can bring in more dollars, new tourist dollars, they will come right back to Arizona.”
A University of Arizona study found that 24 million Mexican residents visited Arizona between June 2007 and July 2008, spending an estimated $2.69 billion, $976 million of which was spent in Pima County.
That represents about 65,000 Mexican daily visitors and $7 million spent daily.
Marco Antonio Martinez Dabdoub, a business owner and former mayor of Nogales, Mexico, said Mexico also reaps an enormous amount of its revenue from foreign tourists.
“We have elderly people living in Green Valley and we want them to come here and want them to buy,” he said.
“Many people came to Green Valley originally because of the access to Mexico,” he said. “It was the recreation and, frankly, the low prices that was the draw.”
But in recent years, driven by fear of increased drug cartel violence, Mexico has suffered a serious image problem that has repelled tourists, he said. And as a result, Green Valley’s allure has diminished, too.
And that problem is ubiquitous for towns along the Southwest border, he added.
That’s why Goddard joined a summit Monday of government and business leaders from Mexico, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California to discuss ways to economically revitalize border communities and revive Mexican tourism.
“It seems to me we’re in a dual storm,” Goddard said after the summit. “One revolves around the cartel violence and the other revolves around the recession, and they’ve both hit Nogales.”
Meeting at the Tubac Golf Resort, the Bi-National Business Leadership Economic Summit drew more than 175 stakeholders from government, business and tourism sectors who formed an alliance to address commerce and economic development in the U.S.-Mexico region.
It was organized by Gael Sylvia Pullen, who with her husband, Mark, owns a McDonald’s franchises in Nogales. She said her businesses and many others have been struggling.
“The reason for this summit today is to be united and concerned,” she said.
Key topics included fostering policy, infrastructure and an image beneficial to tourism.
And though it seems familiar rhetoric, Goddard said the difference is who’s talking.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an awesome combination of the public and private sector,” he said. “I’m confident that the kind of framework that has been laid out will be successful.”
Goddard brought to the table confident optimism that he’d be able to curb cartel activity over the next few years.
“I really believe, for the first time in a long time, we’re making progress,” he said. “That helps to restore confidence. We have an opportunity here, born out of bad times, to be ready for the recovery.”
Nicolas D. Kyriakis Georgouses, a Nogales developer, said he hopes to create a tourism agency in Mexico that can address the image problem.
“We’ve never had a tourism office on the Mexico side because tourism was automatic,” he said. “We have to create a new community with the travel agencies... and create now a different image of the border.”
“It’s a joint effort. What benefits one side will benefit the other side,” he added. “If we can bring in more dollars, new tourist dollars, they will come right back to Arizona.”
A University of Arizona study found that 24 million Mexican residents visited Arizona between June 2007 and July 2008, spending an estimated $2.69 billion, $976 million of which was spent in Pima County.
That represents about 65,000 Mexican daily visitors and $7 million spent daily.
Marco Antonio Martinez Dabdoub, a business owner and former mayor of Nogales, Mexico, said Mexico also reaps an enormous amount of its revenue from foreign tourists.
“We have elderly people living in Green Valley and we want them to come here and want them to buy,” he said.
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