international destination WHERE TO START If you are considering Mexico for your next event, meeting or conference, a good place to start is with a Destination Management Company. Known as DMCs, these groups are the local experts and can assist you with all of your questions and planning particulars. Depending on where you decide to go, most regions have one or more DMCs, the people that know the local customs and holidays, can make suggestions for the best hotels and venues, know all about local traffic conditions and can even deal with emergencies. MGMX has a thorough list of these companies, organized by cities and regions. Reps from the DMCs perform multiple duties, such as showcasing Mexico’s spectacular scenery, knowing what’s on trend, and suggesting the best ways to give back to the community to address corporate social responsibility. As the guidebook suggests, “Consider exploring a Mayan community during a team-building event, (watching) from above in a hot air balloon, or experiencing a private cooking lesson from one of our top chefs.” THE REGIONS Helping to refine the search, MGMX includes a colour-coded map showing the various regions and states in Mexico with plenty of detail about each in follow-up pages. In the guidebook the regions are defined as: • Peninsula partners: The Baja. • Powerhouse meetings: The cities of the north. • The industrial heart of Mexico: The central region. • Coastal conferences: The Pacific coast. • Gulf coast meetings: Along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. • From the highlands to the shore: The southern region. • Land of the Maya: The Yucatan. • Beachside meetings: Cancun and the Riviera Maya. 28 CORPORATE MEETINGS & EVENTS corporatemeetingsnetwork.ca