What worries me about SMA’s tourism strategy?

Published February 2nd, 2022

San Miguel de Allende is one of the most important non-beach tourist destinations in Mexico and I dare say the most important, and now under the administration of its municipal president, Mauricio Trejo Pureco, it has the firm intention of recovering the leadership it had before the pandemic to remain in first place.

The mayor, who repeats in the position he held a few years ago, brings a very optimistic message of good intentions to take advantage of the great potential of tourism in the economy of this World Heritage City, since this activity represents between 83 and 85 percent of the municipal GDP.

San Miguel de Allende’s tourism attributes place it in the eye of high-end international tourism. To begin with, being listed by UNESCO, having the largest American community in Mexico and having residents of 62 nationalities is a good letter of introduction.

But a tourist destination cannot sell itself “alone” and requires strategies such as those promoted by Trejo Pureco so that during 2022 there will be special events every month and closer ties with the U.S. and Canadian communities, through culture, music, gastronomy and the wedding segment, to name a few.

“Thank you San Miguel de Allende for making Mexico beat” is the name of the campaign with which this Guanajuato city wants to motivate the average stay to be 3.9 nights and the average expenditure to be between 2,500 and 3,000 pesos. So far so good.

What worries me about the tourism promotion strategy announced by Mauricio Trejo? That the presentation speech of this new campaign is more political than touristic. An ambitious plan with an unclear outline of its execution that seeks the ‘quality’ tourist but that relies on the “bolero, the lady of the corn, of the quesadillas” because that is San Miguel de Allende, says the mayor.

That the professional work done by The One Percent Agency and in which influencers, artists, hoteliers and others were involved did not cost a single peso, which in business terms does not sound logical.

That for this year’s Tianguis Turistico in Acapulco, San Miguel de Allende will be separated from the stand of the state of Guanajuato, to have its own both. Trejo Pureco assures to support the strategy of the state secretary Álvarez Brunel, but prefers to leave room for more needed destinations to be promoted and to expose the great offer of San Miguel Allende in a separate place. “It’s not a division, it’s a complement”, clarifies the mayor.

That the municipal president works in alliances with Dolores Hidalgo, cradle of the National Independence, but does not see any possible alliance with Irapuato and Leon, the latter being very important in the economy, industry and tourism of Guanajuato.

When asked about working with wholesale operators, he answered that San Miguel de Allende will not work with them because it is a destination with a limited hotel infrastructure. I am left wondering if Trejo understood mass tourism or if he does not see this type of company as an area of opportunity.

One thing is clear to Mauricio Trejo Pureco, he wants to work in unity with all the business associations: hoteliers, restaurateurs, tour operators and all those who make up the tourism value chain; and the focus is on a traveler who is passionate about culture, gastronomy, wine tourism, romance and promoting medical tourism.

The goal is for San Miguel de Allende to be a national example of post-pandemic economic detonation through tourism by the end of the year, and for this purpose it has a budget of 30 million pesos.

For the sake of the people of San Miguel, hopefully by the end of 2022 we will be able to talk about the great results that returned what was the Best City in the World by Conde Nast Traveler to the tourism throne.