Mexico Uses Variety of Enticements to Woo Canadian Retirees Away From Florida

Forget Florida; come to Mexico, promoters tell the 600,000 Canadian tourists who winter in the Sunshine State each year.

To show it means business, the Latin American country has sent mariachi bands, Mayan dancers and art treasures to Tampa to woo snowbirds even farther south of the border.

Accompanying the entourage to a recent trade show in Tampa was Mexican Vice Consul Tony DeAnda, who pitched the tandem of cheap money and balmy year-round weather.

He was trying to tap into Florida’s lucrative extended-visit market during the Snowbird Extravaganza.

“We know you have a lot of Canadians in Florida,” DeAnda said. “We just want to invite a few of them. We don’t have the hotels you have. We would be satisfied with 1%. For now. . . . “

He touted the inexpensive cost of living, tropical weather and the reverse--snow at Popo Mountain--towering pyramids, a mix of Spanish and Indian cultures, enticing beaches, even a small desert.

“You can go home with a great suntan and 5,000 years of history,” he said. “Even without the devaluation of the peso, the cost of living is cheaper.”

His presence didn’t worry Florida’s Department of Tourism.

“The fact that Mexico is in Florida looking for Canadians kind of tells me we’ve done our job,” said spokesman Gary Stogner.

Besides, he said, Mexico has about six times Florida’s budget for promoting tourism.

“All our promotional efforts are done in Canada. Our responsibility is to bring people to Florida. Once they are here, we’ve done our job,” Stogner said.

The show with 107 exhibitors drew 15,000 Canadians by noon the first day and was expected to attract a total of 50,000 before it ended.

Marvin Robinson, a retired telephone worker from Pembroke, Ontario, has been wintering in Florida for 10 years. He spends four months in nearby Largo.

Go to Mexico instead?

“A good idea with the way the dollar is,” he said. “I’ve thought about an extended stay. It’s warmer and probably cheaper.”

In the United States, an item that costs $1 in American money costs $1.43 in Canadian money. In Mexico, one U.S. dollar equals 5.50 in pesos.

Oscar and Corinne Thibodeau of New Brunswick spend six months in the New Port Richey area on central Florida’s Gulf Coast. They have been coming to Florida for seven years and are thinking of switching next year.

“It all depends,” she said. “It’s costing us an arm and a leg. If the (Canadia) dollar goes up, we would come back here.”

DeAnda said his government hopes to lure long-term Canadian visitors from Florida to Mexico for a short vacation. Then they could go back to Florida to finish their stay.

“That’s the beginning of our project, to get them to look around first. Then invest. How? By buying homes,” he said.

The 3-year-old Snowbird Assn. boasts 100,000 members.

“This is the market,” said spokesman Eric Izzard. “They have the time and the discretionary income to travel and Mexico wants them desperately.”

He looked around at the exhibitors who pay $1,500 for a booth. He noted that along with Mexico were Kentucky, Georgia and the New England states.

“We invited the Florida state tourism department but they didn’t come,” Izzard said. “That’s foolhardy. What does it cost--$1,500 to defend your turf?”