On a recent visit to Upstate New York for The Adirondacks (Outdoors) Challenge, Multicultural Travel News had the opportunity to learn about diversity in the region. Not bio-diversity, though our trip did coincide with Invasive Species Awareness Week. But how attractions have taken steps to diversify their visitor base and why the State of New York considers diversity a priority. Continue reading →

Low cost carrier Volaris, serving more destinations in Mexico than any other airline, inaugurates service from JFK on July 15^th  as it continues to serve its core audience, the Hispanic Market. Miguel Aguiñiga Rodríguez, Senior Manager Mex-US/Sales & Marketing for Volaris,  in an interview with Multicultural Travel News, said that the “visiting family and relatives” market (VFR) is their key market. For that reason, since the airline was launched 9 years ago, he noted, they have been doing research to identify the largest Mexican-American population areas to establish routes to serve the VFR market.  Guadalajara is a principal destination because of the opportunity it presents to this  market as drive time from Guadalajara is only 2 to 6 hours to most key cities such as Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Morelia, among others, destinations that are key for the Mexican ex-patriots living in the US. The airline also targets second and third generation Mexican-Americans to encourage them to visit and learn about their culture and food.The Volaris outreach to the Hispanic population is aligned with the Mexican Tourism board’s campaign with the theme “Mis Raices” targeting the Hispanic Market which will launch this August. The current “Live it to Believe it” campaign highlights the culture and food of Mexico and promotes a “Wine & Tequila Route” and “Mole Route.” The “Thousand Flavors of Mole” route encourages travelers to visit the regions of Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Oaxaca and Puebla where the famous “mole poblano” originates. The tequila route includes the city of Guadalajara, the capital of Mariachi music, itself declared as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Volaris marketing outreach includes alliances  with the various regional  Mexican Federations around the US, as a  key way to reach their main target —  Mexicans in the US with ties to family in Mexico. Knowing that Hispanics overindex in social media usage, Volaris is also focused on utilizing Facebook where they currently have over 1,300,00 likes and Twitter with over a million followers.  And in other milestone news, earlier this month Volaris announced it transported its 50 Millionth customer.

By Lisa Skriloff, Editor, Multicultural Travel News