Mazatlán, Sin.- Each winter, thousands of Americans and Canadians cross the border by land to settle somewhere in Mexico for up to six months; For years, couples or entire families have traveled in mobile homes in Mazatlán, however, the economic, security and now health crises have made the situation different.
The San Fernando Trailer Park, for over 20 years each peak foreign tourism season has been welcoming loyal Canadians and Americans to the port.
Although Fernanda Ponzo has little charge of the business, much of her life has lived with strangers, since her father, Sergio Ponzo, and his aunt, more than two decades ago, opened up this space to the Avenida Tiburon, in the land of Sábalo, whose name is an honor to her uncle Fernando, who has Down’s syndrome, and who is a little angel for the whole family.
“I’m three years old, but I grew up here, everyone has known me since I was little. I really enjoy my job, interacting with Americans, giving them the service, keeping them happy that they feel at home“.
This segment of tourism which reached its peak in the 80s and 90s is tending to disappear, because of the 10 spaces that were in Mazatlán, only three remain active, one near the Golden Zone and two in Cerritos.
This place is one of the few that has survived as such, and this is due to foreign preference, since most of the guests arriving have been doing so for 10 and 12 years.
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The pandemic has been very difficult for this segment of tourism, especially since Canada and the United States have put in place very strong restrictions to prevent them from leaving their countries.
According to the Canadian Consulate in Mazatlán, there were more than 2,000 Canadian retirees who lived in Mazatlán until before the pandemic, and the figure rose to around 15,000 during the winter season, between air tourism and rolling homes.
THE PANDEMIC
He recognizes that this economic model has declined for different reasons, even those who remain have had to diversify and reduce their spaces.
But the Covid-19 pandemic came to affect them more, since in the 2020-2021 season the arrival of Canadians and very few Americans were zero; Although for this one that started this month, there are good expectations, since the first ones have already started to arrive.
“We hope that this year other mobile homes will come, although the pandemic is still there, it seems that everything is back to normal and I hope it continues like this, we are ready to receive them“.
Since the end of September, Washington’s first trailer park has arrived, this week another arrived from Colorado and in two weeks three more arrived from the United States and as many from Canada.
INVEST IN MAZATLÁN
In the trailer parks that have disappeared over the years, they have built other types of businesses, businesses or spaces, and those that remain have reduced their spaces to build apartments.
The 31-year-old says that in her case they only have 11 places, little by little it has diminished as they have built apartments.
Even with the real estate boom in Mazatlán, they lost clients, mostly older people, as they bought houses and apartments in tourist areas.
“There are clients who were going to come this year and canceled because they had bought a house in the country of Sábalo, last year others did not come back either because they bought an apartment and have started to buyr “.
Foreigners who are in Mazatlán, between four and five months, leave a major economic spill, as they go out to eat and enjoy baseball.
In addition, they are very peaceful and calm people who get along and know each other, in the case of the San Fernando trailer park, they meet in the palapa or in the mini-library.
“In our mini-library there are many history books and novels in English and most of them are left alone and the ones we have here are to take away, you have to take into account that we are making changes, c is a plus we offer, we also had yoga classes, but they were suspended for the pandemic“.
DIVERSIFYING SERVICES
To continue operating, they had to diversify their services, from October to March it is exclusively for camping, motorhomes and pensions for Canadians and Americans, at Easter, Carnival and Motorcycle Week it’s camping, and the low season is rented for all kinds of Social events.
As an additional service, there is a person who checks their vehicles, washes them and we help them with medical appointments, spas, pedicures, restaurant reservations, to make them feel at home, that they be happy, recommend them and come back.
Fernanda, who studied advertising design, shares that Americans and Canadians are very simple, kind and grateful people, when they arrive and leave they fill them with gifts and correspond to Thanksgiving Day “Thanksgiving” which is celebrated on fourth Thursday in November, they give you a little detail.
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