Gaining Altitude: Aerospace industry report by Crossborder Group shows 7,300+ employees in Tijuana

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FACT: there are 29 aerospace industry firms operating in the City of Tijuana, Baja California.

FACT: based on a company survey of each of those 29 firms, Crossborder Group found average Q2-2011 employment totaling 7,313 workers, making Tijuana the Mexican city with the largest number of aerospace cluster employees within 400 miles of the US-Mexico border.

These are just two of the many findings in a recent aerospace industry white paper developed by Crossborder Group for the City of Tijuana Economic Development Corporation (DEITAC) and released at this year’s Paris Air Show by DEITAC and Baja California business and economic leaders. As with most of Crossborder’s business projects,

Got a Question for Border Crossers? Try Crossborder’s Quarterly At-Border Survey Services

Since we started doing at-border surveys in 2003, one of our goals has been to make finding information out about this binational marketplace more affordable — and to provide useful data to businesses and policy makers without waiting for infrequent (and really expensive) studies…  Our recent CrossborderInforma briefing about crossborder holiday shoppers and their economic impact on San Diego (read it here), in fact, reflects those goals.

Crossborder's At-border Survey team in Mexico

Well, today we’re happy to announce a new Quarterly, at-border survey service –pre-scheduled times each quarter to ask 4 to 8 of your questions at very affordable prices (check out our Quarterly Omnibus Survey flyer in PDF, here or below).  This at-border survey service uses trained, bilingual Crossborder staff with PDAs, and can cover the entire California-Mexico border (San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate, Calexico, Calexico East and Andrade — with other POEs optional).

Got questions you want to ask border crossers?  Download our CrossborderSurveys Quarterly Omnibus overview — and contact us today about our Spring and Summer 2011 survey sessions (multi-season discounts available!). We can help you answer questions about the hundreds of thousands of border crossers people that make up the US-Mexico border economy!

Download the 2011 CrossborderSurveys Quarterly Omnibus Overview

Questions?  Email us at Answers[at]CrossborderBusiness[dot]com.

Border Surveys: Crossborder Holiday Shoppers Leave the Green in San Diego Stores

Download: PDF CrossborderInforma Brief on Crossborder Shoppers

Crossborder Group has released initial findings from their December 2010 (Winter Quarter) at-border surveys, conducted among nearly 1,000, randomly-selected northbound car, SENTRI, and pedestrian travelers at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry.  These results (download PDF at right) highlight nearly 800 responses from Mexico-residing visitors into San Diego and their Christmas Holiday purchases in San Diego County.

“Since 2003 we’ve been surveying border crossers, and have repeatedly asked Mexican shoppers to estimate their household expenditures on Christmas gifts purchased in San Diego,” explains Kenn Morris, President of California-based Crossborder Group and it’s Mexico subsidiary, Crossborder NS, S de RL de CV.  “This last Holiday season, Baja California visitors estimated that they’d spent $536 dollars per household on Christmas gifts purchased in San Diego — that’s an enormous and positive economic impact that the public should know about.”

Our Two Pesos: Time to Make the San Diego-Tijuana Crossborder Airport Terminal a Reality

US-Mexico Border & Tijuana's Airport (TIJ)

For those keeping up on border infrastructure issues in the California-Baja California region, some quiet progress has been happening that could dramatically shape the future of the binational sister cities of Tijuana and San Diego.  On July 23, the U.S. State Department issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) [link] for Otay-Tijuana Venture, LLC’s proposed crossborder airport terminal — followed even more quickly than some (including ourselves) could imagine with the issuance on August 4 (only hours ago, as of this writing) by Secretary of State Clinton of the Presidential Permit required to authorize moving forward on the project [link to announcement].

While many may not be familiar with this project, the concept has been discussed at various governmental levels (and various levels of interest) since at least 1991 — the year that Mexico’s Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) proposed an expansion of Tijuana’s International Airport (TIJ) that included two runways and a US terminal in Otay Mesa. More recently, a local economic development organization, the South County Economic Development Council (SCEDC), has championed the concept, resulting in a positive preliminary study in 2007-2008 by the San Diego Airport Authority. Our own firm, in fact, included questions about the crossborder terminal concept in our own at-border surveys for several years — a few results of which are presented at bottom — finding that over one-third of San Diego residents that crossed the border had flown out of TIJ at least once within the last year.

Front Page Union-Tribune Article Features Crossborder’s President on Border Crossing Trends

This week, the San Diego Union-Tribune covered recent trends of border crossings between San Diego and Tijuana — quoting Crossborder Group’s President, Kenn Morris, and highlighting some of the firm’s recent research. “It is great to see the U-T covering such an important aspect of our binational economy.  This is an area that has been in steady decline since 2003, but is finally starting to show signs of stabilization,” states Morris.  “There’s really a huge lack of data available about who’s crossing the border and why — something that our own team at Crossborder Group has been trying to solve with periodic at-border surveys.”  Current plans are, in fact, underway by Crossborder to conduct these surveys on a quarterly basis to create more real data, and up-to-date information regarding border crossers and their impact on the binational region.

You can access the Union-Tribune article here

Spring At-Border Surveys Underway – Otay Mesa & San Ysidro POEs

If you’re seeing bright yellow shirts with the US-Mexico region and big words saying “CrossborderSurveys” on them… then you know that Crossborder Group staff is hard at work conducting at-border surveys!

Over the next few weeks, you’ll find our crews at the Otay Mesa and San Ysidro Ports of Entry, surveying northbound border crossers about a variety of subjects.  Beyond questions related to crossborder shopping and economic impacts, we’re also collecting some insights about crossborder insurance and perceptions of security.

One other new set of data also will relate to time:  we’re doing some random sampling of car crossings to better understand the time-savings for inspections of SENTRI versus regular cars crossing at those POEs.  Look for some new reports and data coming out in late-April — and feel free to contact us at Answers@CrossborderBusiness.com if you have any questions!

Crossborder's Staff Surveying SENTRI Border Crossers - Otay Mesa

Our Two Pesos: $50.2 Million in USDOT TIGER Grants for Border Crossing Infrastructure….Thanks. Gracias. Más?

Today, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $1.5 billion in funds for the Department’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Grants — targeting 51 “high-priority, innovative transportation projects” around the United States. These are projects that were funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and competed against nearly 1,400 total transportation-related project submissions.

Of the 51 projects that were announced today as receiving FY2009 funds, two specifically are for improving border crossing infrastructure: $30 million toward a $79 million project to replace the Black River Bridge (connecting Port Huron, Michigan, with Canada); and $20.2 million toward the nearly $450 million project to construct the new SR-905 freeway connecting San Diego (and Otay Mesa) with Tijuana, Baja California….[read more]

USA Today Article Quotes Kenn Morris on Border Crossing Impacts

A January USAToday article commented on the possible impact of US passport requirements for those crossing the border to enjoy the upcoming, 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The relatively new land border identification requirements (which went into effect in mid-2009) might not only impact border crossers for the Olympics, but have had an ongoing impact on short-term tourism (“day-trippers”) in Mexican communities along the entire US-Mexico border.  While additional research in 2010 is needed, the USAToday article quoted Crossborder’s President and CEO, Kenn Morris, on the impact these requirements have had (combined with other factors, including the economy, border waits, and security concerns).

You can download the article here [PDF]: 100106-USAToday-USBorderRequirements-Hilite

Crossborder Quoted in L.A. Times: Border Waits “Add Another Brake to the Cross-border Economic Engine”

Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-border-crossing25-2009nov25,0,3756431.story?track=rss

Reporter Rich Marosi of the L.A. Times did a great job in this November 2009 article covering the implementation (and impacts) of Mexico’s new inspection system for southbound vehicles along the U.S.-Mexico border.  Crossborder’s President also got a good quote in — to highlight the likely economic implications (and the need for more infrastructure investment at our borders).

Recent Southbound Border Wait into Mexico