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Jalisco tourism officials spent the summer courting LGBTQ+ travelers at Pride celebrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, wrapping up the campaign with meetings and brand activations in Vancouver in early August.
The Jalisco Secretariat of Tourism (Secturjal), working with tourism trusts in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, said in a press release that representatives attended all three Pride parades to promote the state directly to attendees. Secturjal put combined attendance across the three events at more than 816,000 people — 226,410 in Los Angeles, 320,000 in San Francisco and 270,000 in Vancouver — and estimated the campaign’s overall media reach at more than 2 million.
In Vancouver, delegation members met with Mayor Ken Sim to discuss a potential tourism cooperation agreement and coordinated branding activities with the Mexican consulate, according to the release.
The three-city push builds on a promotional strategy Jalisco has run for years. The state sent delegations to New York’s Pride parade in 2024 and 2025 before adding Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver to this year’s circuit. Jalisco also holds a 2023 Tianguis Turístico award naming it Mexico’s top international LGBTQ+ destination, and Secturjal noted that Travel + Leisure has featured Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Tequila among destinations of interest to LGBTQ+ travelers.
Puerto Vallarta in particular has built its tourism identity around the segment. Speaking in May at a press conference announcing this year’s Vallarta Pride, Secretary Michelle Fridman Hirsch said LGBTQ+ visitors account for close to 40% of the destination’s tourism-driven economic activity, in a city where tourism makes up more than 90% of its GDP.
“Human rights come before everything, and talking about being a destination that is sensitive to the importance of educating, raising awareness, protecting and generating rights is fundamental,” Fridman said at the time.
Secturjal cited figures from the Asociación Nacional de Comercio y Turismo LGBT de México showing international LGBTQ+ travelers spend an average of $1,700 per trip and stay in Mexico seven to 15 days, generating roughly $2 billion annually — 5% to 7% of the country’s tourism GDP. Citing the World Tourism Organization and the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, the agency said the segment accounts for roughly 10% of international travelers worldwide and more than $165 billion in annual spending, growing at about 10.3% a year.
The campaign leaned on Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara’s existing flight schedules to the three cities it targeted. Puerto Vallarta has 24 weekly flights to Los Angeles on American, Alaska, United and Delta; seven weekly flights to San Francisco on United; and one weekly Air Canada flight to Vancouver. Guadalajara offers up to five daily Volaris flights to Los Angeles on some days, plus service from Viva Aerobus, Aeroméxico and Alaska, along with a daily Aeroméxico flight to San Francisco and two weekly Flair Airlines flights to Vancouver.
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