Baja Joe Promises to Bring Tourists Back to Baja - One by One

Baja Joe Promises to Bring Tourists Back to Baja - One by One
By Jack E. George

Greg Reddick, who has adopted the name, ‘Baja Joe,’ is determined to bring the tourists back to Baja CA even if it is one visitor at a time. The jovial man generally spends 3-5 days per week at his home in La Salina Beach. He has been visiting Baja for the last 32 years. His first adventure to the south was when he was 16 years of age. He had a four-wheel drive Blazer. He and some of his friends packed up and visited the area where they camped for four days. Even at such a young age he fell in love with the area, the people, and the culture. He has had some magical experiences which have resulted in wonderful memories. One such adventure was when he was out surfing at La Salina Beach. He was preparing to catch a wave when, on his right, he saw a fin. He immediately thought it was a shark. Fortunately, it was actually a playful dolphin, coming up from below him, and ending up surfing the wave with him. He said, “It was absolutely incredible.”

Greg’s profession has been mostly in media. He has done sports marketing for the San Diego Chargers marketing department, with “Game Day Magazine.” This led to the first Chargers radio broadcast, being offered in Baja, in Spanish. He has also promoted the annual golf tournament in San Diego. During recent times his visits to Baja have been somewhat discouraging as he has seen the tourism drop significantly and a number of business owners, he has known for 20-30 years, have been struggling to put food on the family table. He says, “I decided to try to help to bring the gringos back to Baja – and this is because I have such a passion for the area.”

So, with a background in marketing, and a love of Baja, he decided he was going to do something positive to promote the area. This led to the beginning of his web site, BajasBackNow.com featuring ‘Baja Joe.’ He is promoting the project on The Walrus (105.7 FM), The Mighty 1090 AM (the Padres station), KPRI FM (102.1) and ESPN 1700 AM. Baja Joe is promoting his endeavors on each of these radio stations, and each of the station web sites has linked with his web site to assist in the endeavor.

Greg has a number of other public relations campaigns he is working on. He just completed placing 6500 Baja Tourist Information cards at more than 40 locations. These were distributed from just beyond Tijuana and as far south as the Estero Beach Hotel. All of his campaigns are, and will be, covering San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and southern Arizona. He said, “I will be going to all media outlets in these areas promoting Baja and ‘Baja Joe’ as the ‘Gringo’ to bring back the other ‘Gringos’ to Baja.”
Baja Joe is depending a lot on promoting the area through his web site. BajasBackNow.com has been up and running for only a few months; however it is already proving to help possible visitors to prepare for a trip south of the border. He easily begins his promotion of Baja with, “Are you ready for the Good Life in Baja? Baja has so much to offer, whether you’re looking for a weekend getaway, affordable luxury retirement information, or simply wanting to discover the tastiest food, the best surf spots and fishing holes.” He continues by detailing the entire positive and interesting reasons people can enjoy this part of the country. He definitely wants to get the word out about the food and the wine in the area. He said, “The wine region has grown to over 70 wineries. The restaurants are awesome.”

His site offers information on a variety of subject matter ranging from retirement, wine tasting, and surfing to the restaurants, fishing, and hiking adventures to be found in Baja. Presently Baja Joe is covering the expenses for his campaign. He has a small number of paid advertisers which he hopes will increase over the coming months. He also offers news articles, comparisons of the U.S. and Mexico, the roads in Baja and why they are safe, and a variety of other pertinent information.

Another interesting aspect of his web site is his personal page, “Baja Joe a ‘Gringo’ Living in Baja.” He states, “I’m a faithful American and love the U.S. But lucky me, I have two countries I love! So for the best getaway within a couple hours of anywhere in southern California I recommend Baja.” He also mentions the “Corona Open.” This was a volleyball tournament and beach party that he operated for more than 20 years. Each year about 800 people enjoyed the weekend until it reached the point of becoming so overwhelmingly time-consuming that he discontinued the program. However, Baja Joe says he is thinking about reviving the program one day in the future.

Greg does not consider himself in competition with anyone in regards to his web site. He said he plans to concentrate only on the Baja area south to Ensenada. He wants to offer articles about the area, send out emails, and so forth that will basically focus on the restaurants, hotels, services, and attractions the area has to offer. He said he knows that he has contributed already to the area as his presence has brought a number of golfers to the area as well as resulting in selling a number of hotel rooms. He said it is important for people to understand that there are not any issues when driving down to Baja. He says, “The drive in itself is almost the best part of the Gold Coast. Also most of the entire road has an ocean view. I’ve seen whales and dolphins right off the beach while in my car. Baja has so much to offer at such a reasonable cost including ocean front hotels. It’s just a great 3-4 day getaway that’s totally close to southern California.”

http://www.bajatimes.com/articlesDetail.asp?sid=3276