Two weeks after news of the H1N1 swine flu epidemic broke, Mexico is focusing on saving what's left of 2009. Senior Editor Michelle Baran spoke with Eduardo Chaillo, U.S. director of the strategic business unit for the Mexico Tourism Board, about Mexico's recovery strategy.
Q: To what extent has Mexico seen cancellations following the news about the swine flu outbreak?
A: There are a lot of cancellations for May. However, what we are seeing a lot of is not only cancellations but, most important, postponements, especially of meetings.
Q: What is the average occupancy of hotels in Mexico right now?
A: What I've heard is that Cancun, for example, was at 17% at some hotels, and others were a little bit higher. But we are still evaluating. We are working very closely with our partners, with tour operators. They are worried, but they are working very hard to have a program ready at the correct moment, which I hope will be very soon, to push the button and re-launch Mexico as a safe destination.
Q: How much depends on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifting its travel warning?
A: I think that will be the turning point, and I hope it happens very soon. But now, we're open. The restaurants in Mexico City are being cautiously reopened. The message from the World Health Organization is that ... Mexico is a good example of a country that took care first of the people and then of the economy. That is a very responsible message that we are sending to our clients, so they can in the medium term rely again on Mexico as a very trustworthy and a very transparent destination. The way the figures were managed, they informed [people about] everything, even with the risk of creating a little bit of a panic.
Q: What is the board's recovery plan?
A: It will be a very focused message on different niches and on very important markets. We will launch a promotional campaign but along with a hard sell. The recovery plan, I hope can be launched in the middle of this month or maybe the third week of May. I don't have the exact date, because [the tourism board] has been very cautious in working with the health authorities and not sending the wrong message. So, we have to wait until it's completely over, and after that we will relaunch. I hope that we can be completely on the market by next month.
Q: Did international health and U.S. officials handle dissemination of information in a way that was helpful or harmful to Mexico?
A: The World Health Organization was very reliable and very objective. They always said there were not any restrictions on traveling, which was very good for us. Some governments decided to [stop all Mexico] flights, like Argentina, for example, or Cuba, and they were discouraged by the multilateral authority. The U.S. officials have been great. President Obama, in the Cinco de Mayo celebration with [Mexican] Ambassador [Arturo] Sarukhan, talked about how well Mexico has managed everything and that closing the borders was not even an option at any moment.
Q: Mexico had already been hit by the global recession and reports about border violence. Now with swine flu, what will be the total impact?
A: We will have hopefully only two very difficult months. That will alter the final figures for the year. But hopefully the last trimester will be completely normal, and we will even have a rebound. The problem is right now. A lot of meetings and a lot of travel has been postponed. People are coming back in September, October, November. I really think it's a matter of recovering the confidence in the mind of the consumer.