Cirque du Soleil’s Luzia – Vallarta’s Largest Marketing Campaign Ever?

The news that there is going to be a Cirque du Soleil theme park in Nuevo Vallarta, part of the Vidanta resort, is not new news. What is, is what this potentially means to the Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit tourism market.

Before the park actually opens in 2018, Cirque du Soleil plans to create a new show called Luzia, based on Mexican culture, which will open in Montreal this week. From there it will travel around Canada before going to the United States where it will tour for 18 months, expecting to reach one billion viewers. Cirque du Soleil’s CEO Daniel Lamarre announced at the recent Tourism Tianguis in Guadalajara that the message they want to convey during this tour is… "If you have not yet visited Mexico, put it on your wish list, you are missing something special…” This will basically be a traveling sales show promoting the Cirque du Soleil theme park - if they want to see more, they just have to travel to Vallarta/Nayarit and experience the full Mexican cultural experience. And it has the possibility to be the largest marketing campaign this region, or perhaps Mexico for that matter, has ever realized.

The theme park will be strategically located right on the border between Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, and right next to the airport. There are even rumors that Vidanta is looking into having their own private terminal for charter flights specifically arriving for Luzia. They’ll land and once in the terminal, they basically would be inside Vidanta’s mega resort. Although Vidanta is mostly closed to outside visitors, Cirque du Soleil will not. It will be open fully to the public so all regional hotels and tourism boards can promote it. 

So, as this is a real estate blog, how could this potentially affect the local real estate market?

The message here is important. "If you have not yet visited Mexico, put it on your wish list, you are missing something special…” That will most certainly increase interest in Mexico, which will incentive more people to visit the country. As they most likely enjoyed the CdS show and therefore would also enjoy the theme park, their first destination of choice has a high degree of likelihood to be Puerto Vallarta or Riviera Nayarit. And the more people visiting the destination, well, the greater the chance that some will like the place well enough to want to move or have a second home here. 

Any positive marketing, and especially that which has the potential to impact so many people, can only be beneficial to the local real estate market in general. What and where they may buy will depend on their needs and interests. Fortunately, Vallarta/Nayarit has plenty of options in the regard for everyone.

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