San Diego will host the kick-off event for Mexico’s largest annual event for the tourism industry, which will include both countries for the first time in its nearly 50-year history.
While the main venue for Tianguis Turístico 2025 is in Baja California, the event, created as a gathering spot for tourism professionals, will open this weekend at Liberty Station in Point Loma with an event open to the public.
“It is an opportunity to showcase all the attractions that Mexico has,” said the Consul General of Mexico in San Diego, Alicia Kerber.
Tianguis Turístico begins Saturday and Sunday at Liberty Station. The free event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will feature booths with food, music and other attractions representing 28 of 32 Mexican states.
The occasion will also allow San Diego’s tourism sector to promote itself in Mexico among the thousands of people expected to visit Baja California next week, officials said.
“We’re letting people know that if you come to Tijuana, you’re minutes away from San Diego and you can have another tourist offering,” Kerber said.
After the weekend kick-off in San Diego, the event will move to the Baja California Center in Rosarito for pre-ed tourism industry professionals. About 1,150 buyers from 35 countries, including tour operators, travel agents and wholesalers, as well as more than 3,000 exhibitors, have ed to attend. The San Diego Tourism Authority will be among the exhibitors.
Then, for the first time since its inception, the convention in Rosarito will open its doors to the general public for one day, May 1, at 11 a.m.
More events will be held outside the convention center, in Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada’s Valle de Guadalupe. The closing event will take place on May 3, with a free concert by the Baja California Orchestra and Nortec Collective at 5 p.m. on Tijuana’s Avenida Revolución.
The week-long event aims to boost the tourism industry for a country that welcomes 1.5 million U.S. tourists each month. Mexico currently ranks as the sixth most-visited country in the world, according to the Secretary of Tourism, and has set the goal of becoming the fifth most-visited by 2030, Mexican officials said.
Baja California was chosen this year because officials wanted to shed light on other draws that Mexico has to offer, including medical tourism.
“(Mexico) is not just Cancun,” said Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism Josefina Rodríguez Zamora said in an interview. “This is about diversifying our tourism product.”
Tourism is one of Mexico’s most important sectors, contributing 8.6% to the country’s GDP. Rodríguez Zamora said January saw the highest number of visitors to Mexico in 25 years, with 3.9 million.
Rodríguez Zamora said Mexico’s beach resorts are among the top destinations among U.S. visitors. But recently, tourism officials have noticed interest in other Mexican states such as Nuevo León, Tlaxcala or Veracruz. She said Sonora is also getting more attention as a tourist destination.
The Mexican Consulate in San Diego, located in Little Italy, will inaugurate a new space within its facilities to promote a different state of Mexico each month. An opening date has not yet been set.
