| Tijuana, Mexico
– Tijuana’s hospitality industry joins the on-going efforts of
San Diego/Tijuana regional project to reduce the public health and safety impacts that
result from thousands of U.S. teens and binge drinkers who party in Tijuana.
Forty-five owners, managers, servers and bartenders from five local bars and restaurants
gathered Tuesday at the Tijuana office of Juan Tintos, Baja California Secretary of
Tourism, for a two-hour training session. The workshop, hosted by Secretary Tintos in
collaboration with Tijuana’s regulatory and law enforcement agencies, was the third
in an ongoing series of Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) workshops specially
designed for Tijuana’s hospitality industry. Implementing an RBS program is one of
the ways that Tintos and his colleagues hope to polish Tijuana’s image as a holiday
travel destination for thousands of international tourists. RBS programs, established in
cities all over the world, have proven to be a valuable tool in maintaining the balance
between safety and hospitality. As Baja California’s Secretary of Tourism, Juan
Tintos advocates for the long-term benefits that such a program can offer for the economic
development of the entire state. "A Responsible Beverage Service program is good for
Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada because it will help improve the quality of tourism that
these cities can attract. The time has come for us to shed the decades-old image of
Tijuana that attracts the wrong type of tourist. Baja California offers a wide variety of
tourist attractions such as our national parks, scenic beaches, cultural arts, fine dining
and music, which have not been fully appreciated by visitors."
According to Marian Novak, Project Director of the San Diego Responsible Hospitality
Coalition, "We’re thrilled to share San Diego’s experience and knowledge in
collaboration with our counterparts in Tijuana. We’ve found that the key to success
is bringing regulatory and public health authorities and the hospitality industry together
to embrace responsible service practices."
"In designing this program for Tijuana, we started with the California Certified
Responsible Beverage Service curriculum that we’ve used in San Diego and other
communities in California," Novak explained. "Then we translated it,
culturalized it and tailored it to meet the specific needs of businesses in Baja
California."
Tijuana faces similar challenges to other U.S./Mexico border cities: the attraction of
thousands of Americans too young to drink alcohol in the U.S., where the legal drinking
age is 21 years old, versus 18 years old in Mexico. On any given weekend night,
approximately
10,000 Americans cross the border into Tijuana in search of alcohol, and lots of it.
The result is certainly no party for law enforcement and regulatory agencies on either
side of the border.
As Director of Tijuana’s Reglamentos, Enrique Méndez enforces the city’s
alcohol licensing laws at the street level, working with bar owners, managers, and
employees. "Every weekend the party pours out of the bars along Avenida Revolución
and onto the streets. It’s too much for any one agency to cope with."
"I’m pleased to see the cooperation between San Diego and Tijuana in
addressing this problem. In addition to the RBS trainings, we’ve been able to work
with Gene Barnes from California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to train
my staff and bar employees how to read the many different identification cards that come
from the U.S.. Now we’re better able to distinguish fake ID’s from real
ones," Méndez explained.
During the day, Ricardo Ocampo teaches at a University in Tijuana. His evenings are
spent teaching Responsible Beverage Service techniques. "The turn-out has been
great! We’ve trained more than 75 people, representing at least ten different bars.
We’ll be conducting a session every Tuesday for the next several months. Each
training session is scheduled for two hours, but there has been such interest from
attendees that questions and discussion extend the time to well over three hours.
Representatives from local law enforcement agencies also attend each session and help
answer questions about permits, citations and other legal issues. It’s great."
Gerardo Maldonado owns four bars in Tijuana – Peoples, Caves, Buckets,
and Cactus, and has actively participated in the process of implementing RBS practices
in Tijuana. Maldonado quickly recognized the benefits to be gained from this
collaboration. "When a majority of us from the local hospitality industry work
together responsibly, we will all be able to realize larger profits without the problems
associated with thousands of crazy, drunk tourists," he explained. "I’m
glad for this opportunity and to see so many of my colleagues join in this effort,"
he added.
Marsha Lee, owner of Pacific Beach Bar & Grill, Tremors, and Emerald
City in Pacific Beach, shared her experience of what can happen when the hospitality
industry joins hands with regulatory and public health agencies. "Pacific Beach used
to attract a very young party crowd, which raised concern in the community. We worked
together as a community and signed a covenant to promote Responsible Beverage Service
practices throughout our community," she explained. "By incorporating RBS with
strong management policies at each establishment, we have been able to reduce sales to
minors, reduce the overall level of intoxication among our patrons and reduce the number
of DUI incidences in the community. At the same time, we’ve been able to improve the
image of Pacific Beach and increase our profit margin."
The next RBS training session will be conducted on August 18 at People’s located
at 786 Avenida Revolución in Tijuana and starts at 6:00 pm. For more information about
the RBS training please call the office of Secretary of Tourism, Juan Tintos
(011-52-66) 34-39-61 or (011-52-66) 34-30-85. |