Thoughts on Memorial Weekend Attendance Surge

GringoZona

Well Known Member
By all accounts, it sounds like this Memorial Day weekend was a major success in Puerto Penasco, following up the smashing Semana Santa holiday last month. The four Sonoran resorts were fully booked, photos show tents lining Sandy Beach in front of Playa Bonita, and the rentals up and down the community of Las Conchas sounded packed.

I'm curious as to a what factors those who were down there over the weekend attribute this surge in visitors. Even if you weren't there, maybe you've heard some stories second-hand. To get things started, here's the factors I think have helped, and please give your take on each:

1. Economy is improving. People have a little extra cash and those longtime visitors were just itching to get out of town and visit their old haunts. And with the rates and specials that have been offered over the last year, the idea to travel south may have already been planted many months ago.

2. Positive pro-Penasco advertising/media blitz worked. The ads that appeared recently in the Arizona Republic and Arizona Daily Star in Phx and Tucson may have softened the grip of fear that's been squeezing the public, streaming from both the media and the government, via poorly-worded and often contradictory warnings about traveling to Mexico. Could it be that Americans are once again able to mentally separate one tiny tourist town in Mexico from the entire country?

3. Word of mouth. Probably the most effective tool of all, and the most likely reason for Penasco's snowballing comeback over the last few months. Spring Break was an improvement over years past, Semana Santa (though mostly Mexican Nationals) seemed to be out of control, and as pictures and stories get back to the states, it can't help but make each coming weekend and holiday bigger. (And next weekend's Circus Mexicus is bound to be even bigger than last year!)

4. The boy cried wolf too many times. People have heard so many warnings, with nothing happening afterward, they just figure, "The hell with it--I'm going." Remember the color-coded terror warnings? Who paid attention to those 5 years later? Or the constant hurricane hype from last summer...

So, that said, what was your feeling over the weekend? What kind of vibe did you sense? Were the license plates mostly from AZ? More families or retirees than college kids? Good mix of both? Did you see more people buying souvenirs, eating out (vs. the Semana Santa crowd), going on sunset cruises, etc.? Bars hoppin' until the a.m. or more of a family atmosphere?

And feel free to post pics, random observations and stories from the weekend. Thanks!
 
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mexicoruss

Lovin it in RP!
DSCN0411.jpgDSCN0428.jpgDSCN0410.jpgDSCN0426.jpg

You can see that the Fiesta cruiser is maxed out, so was the Pirate ship.
The plates I saw were from Arizona but a lot of them were from California too!.
I think that just like the perfect storm that hurt us so bad last year (swine flu, cartels, economy, etc) the pieces all came together, and so it seems that the tide is turning the other way this time piece by piece.
Much effort has been put into "normalizing" life in Puerto Penasco by a large number of Americans living and working here, the amount of money spent on ads and the placement of those ads in the first place certainly helped. The fact is for people we talked to is that they are sick and tired of being scared into not traveling so they just came down because it was their habit for too many years in the past and they needed to get out of the city for a few days.
I believe that Penasco is poised for an about face in terms of how it is perceived and the people that "love us" but scared away are coming back. The people who hate us can stay away as far as I am concerned (you know the ones that have never been here but they comment like they know everything about the place) and it certainly will help if the economy straightens out a bit more (up North).
I think you hit it on the head with all of the points being contributing factors. The weekend was a blast. Good thread James.
 

cwalsh

Junior Member
There were SOOOO many people down there. More than i have seen in YEARS. I myself have not been down to RP since the PP laws went into effect (which i think was also a huge setback for us younger folk to go down, on top of all the hype) But this year i honestly just said eff it, i want to go to RP (and i had a little extra cash to do so). But it was great to see so many people down there. I will be returning in june for fathers day and also 4th of july and labor day weekends. cant wait to get back on the beach!! Hopefully it stays this busy!
 

mondone

Whitecaps
I have been at Encanto since Saturday AM and it was busy at this playa! I haven't been to town yet, so I can't comment on how busy town was.
 

Braden_909

Design & Marketing Gringo


May or may not be interesting. I won't show number stats right now but this is a diagram of some generated visitor stats for Memorial Day Weekend.

As you can see the majority were from AZ. California was about 20% compared to Arizona.
 

Ladyjeeper

Sonoran Goddess
Staff member
The beach in front of PDO was full. The Mirador had cars and people on it. The Malecon was hoppin' on Sunday afternoon! PP was as full as I've seen it in 3 or 4 years. Did my heart good. I heard some one estimated there were 30,000 visitors down. I hope the trend continues......

What are your numbers, Braden?
 

Braden_909

Design & Marketing Gringo
Can't release specifics yet due to projects underway but upwards of 20K.

You're going to see Rocky Point getting hit by waves of visitors every few weeks, is my estimation.
We're getting our name on the map so to speak, people are starting to think of Rocky Point as a vacation town again, this goes for nationals too.

Rocky Point's top 3 visitors from Mexico are Mexicali, Tijuana and Juarez, with Tijuana ranking #1. Tijuana is futher than Phoenix, and we still get a large amount of unique, new, visitors from Tijuana.

The economic wheel of Rocky Point is spinning. We just need to oil the bearings a bit. We need good promotion in the U.S. and more recognition in Mexico. The "told a friend who told 3 friends and they each told 3 friends" system of marketing is the most effective for a relatively smaller vacation town such as Rocky Point and that's what we need. Everyone needs to be talking to their friends and family about Rocky Point, the good event turnouts lately, the fact that we're planning events for NEXT YEAR already and coming up with fresh ways to make them succesful, and the fact that the people here are not violent gang runners, they are friendly small-town people that need the economic thrust as much as everyone.
 

Ladyjeeper

Sonoran Goddess
Staff member
Well, I've been doing that for years. I talk a lot too. LOL! I tell everyone I know it's safe and come on down... I will continue to hope for the best.....In fact, I just brought my new boyfriend down this last weekend and now his sister and her husband and his best friend want to come down. There's my 3 for this trip! LOL! When someone you know say it's OK, then the people believe......
 

beachgirl

Well Known Member
I was told by someone that the number of cars crossing the border for Memorial weekend was the largest in five years.....I believe it because this place was hoppin'!!!! It was, and is, so nice to see..........there's quite a few people moving into PDO as we speak..............
 

GringoZona

Well Known Member

May or may not be interesting. I won't show number stats right now but this is a diagram of some generated visitor stats for Memorial Day Weekend.
As you can see the majority were from AZ. California was about 20% compared to Arizona.
Hah, no visitors from those racist bastards in Tenn, W. Virginia, Kansas or the Dakotas, eh? I KEED, I KEED!
 
R

reportjones

Guest
Braden, when are you and Castaways going to put Seaside Reservations out of business? I really like the owner of your company but I cannot remember his name right now.

Can't release specifics yet due to projects underway but upwards of 20K.

You're going to see Rocky Point getting hit by waves of visitors every few weeks, is my estimation.
We're getting our name on the map so to speak, people are starting to think of Rocky Point as a vacation town again, this goes for nationals too.

Rocky Point's top 3 visitors from Mexico are Mexicali, Tijuana and Juarez, with Tijuana ranking #1. Tijuana is futher than Phoenix, and we still get a large amount of unique, new, visitors from Tijuana.

The economic wheel of Rocky Point is spinning. We just need to oil the bearings a bit. We need good promotion in the U.S. and more recognition in Mexico. The "told a friend who told 3 friends and they each told 3 friends" system of marketing is the most effective for a relatively smaller vacation town such as Rocky Point and that's what we need. Everyone needs to be talking to their friends and family about Rocky Point, the good event turnouts lately, the fact that we're planning events for NEXT YEAR already and coming up with fresh ways to make them succesful, and the fact that the people here are not violent gang runners, they are friendly small-town people that need the economic thrust as much as everyone.
 

Braden_909

Design & Marketing Gringo
Braden, when are you and Castaways going to put Seaside Reservations out of business? I really like the owner of your company but I cannot remember his name right now.
Ha Ha, Thanks for the positive thinking reportjones. We try to remain neutral with competing companies. We do not want to hurt anyone nor put anyone out of business, we're simply doing our job as a vacation rental company that is down-to-earth and personalized for Rocky Point rather than having many offices spread out over various cities. We prefer to keep our customer service and quality of service as #1. We believe it's quality that counts, not quantity.

The owner of Castaways is Kurt Geisler, and yes, he is a very pleasant guy, a hard worker and as a team we're excellent at setting and achieving goals in our community.
 
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