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What you see in the mirror isn’t always what other people see. With that
idea in mind, the State of Sinaloa called on an outside consultant, Joseph
Chias of Barcelona, Spain, to do a study on how to improve its visitor facilities
so as to attract more tourists. The Spaniard’s company, Chias Marketing,
is an internationally known marketing group that helped beat the drum for
the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and has been hired by China to do a similar
job for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile, the Chias team has done marketing
studies in various other parts of the world, most recently Brazil. After
several weeks of analysis, Chias called a meeting of executives in the local
tourism industry to announce the results of his analysis. His group studied
the potential for increasing tourism throughout Sinaloa, but put most of
its focus on Mazatlán, by far and away the state’s leading tourist destination.
Here are some of his major findings: • Mazatlán needs a thorough renovation
of its tourist facilities. The largest percentage of Mazatlán’s hotels are
less than five star, which thus describes the tourist product. “This destination
will always be second class,” he said, “unless more luxury hotels are constructed.
• The city’s major resources — its seafood, its historic center, its position
as international air gateway to the Copper Canyon — is operating at only
35% of its potential value. • Mazatlán lacks a global message as a many |
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faceted destination:
“Mazatlán spends half the amount on promotion as does Cancun, Puerto Vallarta,
Los Cabos and Acapulco,” he said. “Touristically speaking, the state of
Sinaloa does not exist” (in terms of world-wide”recognition). • Today’s
tourists say what they like most about Mazatlán are the people, the food,
the beach and the landscape. Some 75% of those questioned say they would
return. His proposals include renovation of Mazatlán’s tourist infrastructure;
promotion of Sinaloa as “the golf coast” by constructing a series of 15
courses with hotels and villas between here and Altata (the coastal resort
near Culiacán), remodeling of the aquarium to make it “the aquarium of the
Sea of Cortez,” construction of the long-discussed convention center, and
establishment of a park on the Tropic of Cancer where a restaurant or series
of stands would offer all the local foods — “the taste of Sinaloa.” Other
suggestions were to establish an Interpretation Center for the Copper Canyon
in Los Mochis; get Pueblo Magico (magic town) designation for El Fuerte
(“After all, that’s where Zorro was born”); stress the Indian cultures of
the state; improve the facilities for fishing, hunting, surfing; modernize
the traditional Sinaloa foods; create “eco-sanctuaries” at Barra de Piaxtla,
Ceuta, Teacapan. And to promote this state as “an authentic visitor paradise
between the mountains and the sea.” |
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