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For Those Who Think A Flood Of Affluent American Retirees Is Coming


Mainecoons

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Don't know about right now , but what I do know is anecdotal after spending two weeks on the Bahia de Banderas (Nuevo Vallarta) in March.

All the hotels were busy, restaurants full to packed, cruise ships coming and going daily from the Marina, and from our vantage point in the Mayan Village of the airport, airplanes arriving and leaving every 15 minutes, and I'm sure they weren't empty.

Bucerias and Sayulita, were wall to wall tourists to the point where it was hard to drive, park, or even walk.

Heard recently that Bill Gates is making a big investment on Punta Mita, and he is not known for backing losers.

You would have a hard time convincing me that they were "cooking the books", at least in the PV area. Usually the loudest whining is done by the industry when there's a dearth of business.

We live in volatile times, the cruise ships cancelled after the fun and games in May.

When we checked in at the start of the month (Villa Estancia, NV) they were at 14% and maybe reached 30% at the weekend. Lots of taxis and their drivers parked up so and the schools NOB had just started their summer breaks!!

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Guest bennie2

i didnt mean to go off topic, may be semi related. if many companies are laying off employees it can affect affluence. (depending). that was my connection. since ajijic is nowhere as inexpensive as it was, doute it will be flooded.

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We live in volatile times, the cruise ships cancelled after the fun and games in May.

When we checked in at the start of the month (Villa Estancia, NV) they were at 14% and maybe reached 30% at the weekend. Lots of taxis and their drivers parked up so and the schools NOB had just started their summer breaks!!

It seems that may not be entirely accurate. Maybe some Cruise ships are avoiding MX, but Some are increasing their presence. Saw this in the Mexico News Daily http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/progreso-a-home-port-with-pullmantour/?utm_source=Mexico+News+Daily&utm_campaign=b44d9e070d-June+18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f1536a3787-b44d9e070d-348797349I hope it works. Good news for Progreso.

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2014 was a record year for International tourist in Mexico. 14.2 million visitors. Alcapulco is still way down but most of Mexico is doing very well with visitors. http://www.journeymexico.com/blog/mexico-tourism-facts-statistics-2014

With the building of the new Cruise Ship port at Rocky Point it is likely to even grow more.

At one point a few years ago, the MX government put out an announcement that they had just issued their 1 million visa. From reading that article, it said "permanent" but I gathered that was FM3 and above at the time.

Even if MX does have 14+ million tourists per year, I'd bet that the 1 million expats bring in more money per year than the 14 million tourists.

When I got my FM3 8 years ago, the financial requirement was about $1200US. I would guess that is about what you might spend visiting MX for a week plus airfare.

Knowing governments, I'm sure that 14 million number includes cruise ships also. People who have a room on a cruise ship and spend 24 hours or so in MX are not going to spend a lot of money in that time.

I saw an airline report a year or so ago that had 7 million as the number from the US to MX yearly.

Any way you look at it, the expats that live here permanently and the snowbirds are more income to MX than the tourist trade.

the "CIA Fact Book" is available on line and has millions of little facts. If you look in it, it says that 6-7 million US expats and MX has about 1 million and Canada has about 1 million. I find it remarkable that the total number of expats is so low.

The Baja area is listed as #1 area and Chapala is #2 population area.

The Chapala area supposedly has 5% of the US expats. Using 1 million, that is 50,000 people. I'm not sure that I believe that. Maybe at the height of the winter season but I doubt that also. I'm thinking more like 20,000 tops

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.

the "CIA Fact Book" is available on line and has millions of little facts. If you look in it, it says that 6-7 million US expats and MX has about 1 million and Canada has about 1 million. I find it remarkable that the total number of expats is so low.

The Baja area is listed as #1 area and Chapala is #2 population area.

The Chapala area supposedly has 5% of the US expats. Using 1 million, that is 50,000 people. I'm not sure that I believe that. Maybe at the height of the winter season but I doubt that also. I'm thinking more like 20,000 tops

I have always found that one million figure hard to believe,the CIA has been wrong about lots of things,this is probably another example.

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I have always found that one million figure hard to believe,the CIA has been wrong about lots of things,this is probably another example.

When I looked last year the MX equivalent of visas issued, the temporary and permanent, had dropped significantly. I think there were about 300,000 in the whole country. The foreigners MX refers to and so does the CIA include foreign born Mexicans of which there are more than there are foreigners. They are counting the kids born in the U.S. but returned to MX with their families.

I have the MX agency site that has all the numbers on another computer.

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My husband and I are both hearing impaired: he in particular, so I relate very well to what Mainecoons is saying. We both use high-end hearing aids.

We have taken Spanish courses in San Miguel from the Warren Hardy School (very intensive) as well as two of the lighter weight ones offered by LCS.

Result: Able to read Spanish fairly well; speak very simply to employees, merchants and restaurant people, but as soon as a native Spanish speaker talks.......we're lost in translation.

We are Permanente residents. We both wanted to become citizens, and last year we started the process, paid all the preliminary fees through Spencer's office and were under the impression that speaking Spanish with the Guadalajara official would not be essential, especially since we've lived in Mexico over ten years. Surprise: the official had a bit of an "attitude" and spoke with such an odd, heavy accent that even the Mexican lawyer who accompanied us had difficulty understanding him. We both flunked. Fees; bye bye. They will not give a written test, so I guess we'll never be citizens of Mexico. We will remain here unless some egregious law is passed, such as that in Ecuador. My empathy for those being forced to leave is great.

So, when anyone gets righteous on these boards about the necessity of being fluent in Spanish, I get beyond annoyed.

I'm sure there are other older expats here in the same situation, so IMO, the critics should think a bit longer before they speak so harshly on the subject. sh.

Totally off the original subject but I have to support Gringal here. When I lived in Mexico City 45 years ago (after taking 4 years of high school Spanish) I could pick up dozens of new words / sentences a week, retain them in my memory, use them fluently, and easily participate in chatter & conversations in Spanish. Now it takes me dozens of repetitions to get a word fixed in my memory, and while I can express myself, it is frequently difficult to understand the reply. Not a hearing problem (yet) but definitely a slowdown in mental acuity. Thank goodness that the local Spanish speakers are so patient about working through communications problems.

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At the age of 70 with significant hearing impairment this has been my experience as well also. I studied Spanish in high school and was a whiz at it. Now it is a grind to build comprehension and almost impossible to hear and understand the typical native speaker.

We've yet to find any local instructors who really understand the learning problems of older people let alone have a method that optimizes learning and hearing in our age group.

We have greatly improved reading comprehension and this is very useful for a lot of things.

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I bumped into a luxury bus load of San Miguel de Allende tourists once in Uruapan, Mich. They were so scared most of them would not leave the steps of their hotel. I chatted up a couple of the ladies there, I think Texans, but don´t remember. Finally the conversation got around to where I lived and I replied Lakeside. They got a smug look on their face and said "Well that´s where the Canadians live.." Haha, I thought that was crass. In step with this thread topic, I don´t think "affluent" Americans will flood lakeside.

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At the age of 70 with significant hearing impairment this has been my experience as well also. I studied Spanish in high school and was a whiz at it. Now it is a grind to build comprehension and almost impossible to hear and understand the typical native speaker.

We've yet to find any local instructors who really understand the learning problems of older people let alone have a method that optimizes learning and hearing in our age group.

We have greatly improved reading comprehension and this is very useful for a lot of things.

We do what we can with what we have to work with. In many cases, we just get dumber and deafer.

Best communication method, if all else fails: A friendly smile.

Reading comprehension, yes. Mine is fairly good at this point and takes many of the "unknowns" out of my life in Mexico.

What did you say?????Huh? :unsure:

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