Domestic tourism promoted

President Felipe Calderon, joined by his cabinet, business leaders and local celebrities, personally launched a billion-peso campaign to revive tourism. “Vive México!” or “Mexico Lives!” (not “Viva México!” or “Long Live Mexico!”) will focus will be on the often-overlooked domestic market; Mexican travelers account for about 85% of all vacation travel in Mexico. Battered first by a world economic crisis and then by the short-lived but much-publicized flu epidemic, authorities doubt that the Mexican hospitality industry can count on much in the way of international tourism this year. Funds available for foreign promotion come from a tax on arriving tourists, and this income is said to be down by 25 percent. The domestic market, in any event, supposedly holds greater hope, both because the current exchange rate makes foreign travel more expensive for Mexicans – travel abroad has declined by 13% thus far in 2009 -- and because of general economic conditions. The new campaign aims at encouraging Mexicans to get out and enjoy the country, rather than staying at home this season. By Jimm Budd