Yesterday I went to visit my client Richard McCarron of Global Backpackers Village and the Moose Network, two tourism businesses that target and cater young people around the world. Our meeting's purpose was to discuss online marketing options to promote their offerings to Mexican and other Hispanic young travellers. In addition to featuring Global Backpackers Village and the Moose Network on our Toronto en Español website we talked about doing some Tourism 2.0 and social media marketing (e.g. BlogdeCanada.com and Canadamigos.com ). I will write another post on this topic later.-
Young people in Latin America as a market segment are quite different from families or couples. While they are also very family oriented and will not hesitate to travel with their parents and even grand parents, hundreds of thousand
s of them in Latin America also travel with one or more friends. Many get to know Europe as many other young people do, i.e. backpacking. I for one visited Europe for the first time after high school as young Mexican kid on a semi-camping trip on a bus with a bunch of young people from several countries. That was one of the best vacations I ever took because of the people I met on the trip (i.e. young women). In a region where the median age is under 30 years old - in Mexico the median age is 25.3 years of age (see The Washington Post's Voices of Culture)- there is a huge opportunity for tourism businesses like Global Backpackers and the Moose Network. Furthermore, it is a huge opportunity for the entire Canadian Tourism industry. As Richard mentioned during our conversation, we must get them young. Many of these young people (from all over the world) come to Canada as young backpackers with limited budgets. But when they have a great experience, they remember and once they move to a higher stage in life with more disposable income they return with their partners or with their families. I have met many Mexicans who came to Canada when they were young some as teen agers attending summer camps and later in life as adults they came back on vacation with their families (I know of one gentleman who moved to Canada based on his experience at summer camp).
s of them in Latin America also travel with one or more friends. Many get to know Europe as many other young people do, i.e. backpacking. I for one visited Europe for the first time after high school as young Mexican kid on a semi-camping trip on a bus with a bunch of young people from several countries. That was one of the best vacations I ever took because of the people I met on the trip (i.e. young women). In a region where the median age is under 30 years old - in Mexico the median age is 25.3 years of age (see The Washington Post's Voices of Culture)- there is a huge opportunity for tourism businesses like Global Backpackers and the Moose Network. Furthermore, it is a huge opportunity for the entire Canadian Tourism industry. As Richard mentioned during our conversation, we must get them young. Many of these young people (from all over the world) come to Canada as young backpackers with limited budgets. But when they have a great experience, they remember and once they move to a higher stage in life with more disposable income they return with their partners or with their families. I have met many Mexicans who came to Canada when they were young some as teen agers attending summer camps and later in life as adults they came back on vacation with their families (I know of one gentleman who moved to Canada based on his experience at summer camp).-
Where do you find these young people? As Richard and I talked about, you find them online. (I am of course biased, but independent studies show the facts and young Spaniards and Latin Americans are also avid online users just as their North American counterparts). In 2007 (according to the Mexican Internet Association) 44% of Mexican Web users are between the ages of 20 and 35. Furthermore 55% of all Mexican online users fall between the ages of 12 and 24. Learning how to reach these online users and joining their conversations will be increasingly important in marketing tourism products and services in the very near future. As for Richard, Global Backpackers Village and the Moose Network I will be working with him to reach not only Mexican young travellers but also those in South America and Spain.
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Jaime Horwitz MBA
www.canadaenespanol.ca
www.canadaenespanol.ca
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