Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Manufacturing | Tourist economy and entertainment | Economy : Retail | Medical tourism | Culinary industry

🇲🇽 Tijuana is a city in Baja California, Mexico. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana trans-border urban agglomeration and the larger Southern California megalopolis. As the 2nd-largest city in Mexico and centre of the 6th-largest metro area in Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence in education and politics, in transportation, culture, art, and manufacturing and as a migration hub. Currently it is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Mexico.

Tijuana is located on the Pacific coast of Baja California, and is the municipal seat and the cultural and commercial centre of Tijuana Municipality. Tijuana covers 70% of the territory of the municipality and contains 80% of its population. A dominant manufacturing centre of the North American continent, the city maintains facilities of many multinational conglomerate companies. In the early 21st century, Tijuana became the medical-device manufacturing capital of North America. Tijuana is also a growing cultural centre and has been recognised as an important new cultural mecca. The city is the most visited border city in the world; sharing a border of about 24 km (15 mi) with its sister city San Diego. More than fifty million people cross the border between these two cities every year. This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the fourth busiest land-border crossing in the world. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations between the cities proper of San Diego and Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings alone.

Tijuana is the 45th largest city in the Americas and is the westernmost city in Mexico. According to the 2015 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the fifth-largest in Mexico, with a population of 1,840,710, but rankings vary, the city (locality) itself was 6th largest and the municipality (administrative) 3rd largest nationally. The international metropolitan region was estimated at 5,158,459 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in the former Californias region, 19th largest metropolitan area in the Americas, and the largest bi-national conurbation that is shared between US and Mexico. Tijuana is becoming more suburbanized like San Diego.

Tijuana traces its modern history to the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 16th century who were mapping the coast of the Californias. As the American occupation of the Mexican capital ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Tijuana's new international position on the border gave rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was founded on July 11, 1889 as urban development began. Often known by its supposed initials, T.J., and nicknamed Gateway to Mexico, the city has historically served as a tourist centre dating back to the 1880s.

Manufacturing Tijuana is a large manufacturing centre, and in addition to tourism, it serves as a cornerstone of the city economy. In the past decade alone, Tijuana became the medical device manufacture capital of the North American continent, surpassing previous leader Minneapolis - Saint Paul.

The city's proximity to Southern California and its large, skilled, diverse, and relatively inexpensive workforce make it an attractive city for foreign companies looking to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called maquiladoras, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras'. Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly-related labor. Such jobs are not demanding but typically offer above average salaries for Mexico, with most maqiladoras jobs beginning at MX$100 per day (about 5 US dollars, as of September 2016), significantly above the Mexican minimum wage of Mex$57.46 (about 3 US dollars, as of September 2016). Companies that have set up maquiladoras in Tijuana include Medtronic, Lanix, Hyundai, Sony, Vortec, BMW, Vizio, Toyota, Dell, Samsung, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, GE, Nabisco, Ford, Microsoft, Cemex, Zonda, Philips, Pioneer, Airbus, Plantronics, Siemens Mexico, Jaguar, Pall Medical, Tara, Sanyo and Volkswagen. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana. Economic development has its central business district at Zona Río, which together, with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución), contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city.

Tourist economy and entertainment Tijuana also relies on tourism for a major part of its revenue. About 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. Restaurants and taco stands, pharmacies, bars and dance clubs, and shops and stalls selling Mexican crafts and souvenirs are part of the draw for the city's tourists, many located within walking distance of the border. The city's tourist centres include Downtown Tijuana including the nightlife hot spots around La Sexta, Avenida Revolucion, souvenir shopping at the Mercado de Artesanías and Plaza Viva Tijuana, Tijuana's Cultural Center (CECUT) and neighboring Plaza Río Tijuana shopping centre, and the city's best known vices, in the form of its legal Red Light District and gambling (Agua Caliente). Mexico's drinking age of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) makes it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay on Avenida Revolución.

Tijuana is also known for its red-light district Zona Norte (also referred to as La Coahuila after one of its main streets) with legal prostitution in strip clubs and on the street.

Tijuana has many pharmacies that target visitors from the United States, which sell some medicines without prescriptions and/or at much lower costs than in the U.S. Many medications still require a Mexican prescription, which can be obtained from adjacent doctors' offices.

Businesses such as auto detailing, medical and dental services and plastic surgery are heavily marketed, and are usually much less expensive than in the U.S.

Tijuana is headquarters for Mexico's largest gambling concern, Grupo Caliente, which operates the only casinos in the city, more than twenty branches.

Economy: Retail Plaza Rio Tijuana is a large regional mall anchored by Cinépolis, Sanborns, Súper DAX and Sears.

All across the city, there are dozens of plazas comerciales, which may be strip malls or small enclosed or open-air centres, with a combination of any or all of the following anchors: • one of the 26 Tijuana branches of the small department store Coppel, • a supermarket or hypermarket, • a cinépolis or cinemex multicinema, • a branch of the electronics and motorcycle retailer Elektra

An important concentration of plazas is in the Cinco y Diez around an eponymous intersection, named for a former American-style five and dime store that was located there. It is also a major hub for public transit. Plaza Carrousel, with its namesake merry-go-round, is located here.

Costco, Sam's Club, and Walmart each have multiple branches across the city.

Traditional markets with vendors include the large Mercado Hidalgo in Zona Río, smaller neighborhood markets and the Mercado Municipal downtown.

Tijuana was the headquarters of 14-store Dorian's department store chain until its demise in 2009; most were converted to Sears stores.

Medical tourism Tijuana receives 2.5 million medical tourists per year.

Culinary industry Tijuana, along with the nearby Valle de Guadalupe, has recently become a culinary hotspot due to its Baja Med cuisine, including chefs such as Javier Plascencia, but also for its tacos, other street food, food trucks, coffee houses and artisanal beer.

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico 
<b>Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico</b>
Image: Urbaner44

Tijuana is rated High Sufficiency by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) which evaluates and ranks the relationships between world cities in the context of globalisation. High Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on world cities.

Tijuana was ranked #495 by the Nomad List which evaluates and ranks remote work hubs by cost, internet, fun and safety. Tijuana has a population of over 1,810,645 people. Tijuana also forms the centre of the wider Tijuana metropolitan area which has a population of over 2,157,853 people. Tijuana is ranked #818 for startups with a score of 0.17.

To set up a UBI Lab for Tijuana see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Tijuana has links with:

🇰🇷 Busan, South Korea 🇲🇽 Cananea, Mexico 🇺🇸 Cincinnati, USA 🇨🇺 Havana, Cuba 🇺🇸 Inglewood, USA 🇹🇼 Kaohsiung, Taiwan 🇲🇽 La Paz, Mexico 🇺🇸 Laredo, USA 🇲🇽 León, Mexico 🇲🇽 Mazatlán, Mexico 🇨🇴 Medellín, Colombia 🇨🇳 Panjin, China 🇺🇸 San Diego, USA 🇵🇱 Słubice, Poland 🇨🇳 Wuhan, China 🇪🇸 Zaragoza, Spain
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | GaWC | Nomad | StartupBlink

East of: -117.018

🇺🇸 San Jacinto -116.967

🇺🇸 El Cajon -116.962

🇺🇸 Hemet -116.962

🇺🇸 Coeur d'Alene -116.78

🇺🇸 Caldwell -116.667

🇲🇽 Tecate -116.633

🇲🇽 Ensenada -116.6

🇺🇸 Sandpoint -116.567

🇺🇸 Nampa -116.55

🇺🇸 Cathedral City -116.45

West of: -117.018

🇺🇸 Lewiston -117.02

🇺🇸 La Mesa -117.023

🇺🇸 Yucaipa -117.033

🇲🇽 Rosarito -117.05

🇲🇽 Rosarito Beach -117.05

🇺🇸 Escondido -117.074

🇺🇸 Chula Vista -117.084

🇺🇸 San Diego -117.15

🇺🇸 Redlands -117.167

🇺🇸 San Marcos -117.167

Antipodal to Tijuana is: 62.982,-32.533

Locations Near: Tijuana -117.018,32.5329

🇺🇸 Chula Vista -117.084,32.64 d: 13.4  

🇲🇽 Rosarito -117.05,32.333 d: 22.4  

🇲🇽 Rosarito Beach -117.05,32.333 d: 22.4  

🇺🇸 San Diego -117.15,32.7 d: 22.3  

🇺🇸 La Mesa -117.023,32.766 d: 25.9  

🇺🇸 El Cajon -116.962,32.795 d: 29.6  

🇲🇽 Tecate -116.633,32.567 d: 36.3  

🇺🇸 Encinitas -117.267,33.033 d: 60.3  

🇺🇸 Escondido -117.074,33.118 d: 65.2  

🇺🇸 San Marcos -117.167,33.133 d: 68.2  

Antipodal to: Tijuana 62.982,-32.533

🇲🇺 Mahébourg 57.7,-20.407 d: 18568.5  

🇲🇺 Curepipe 57.517,-20.317 d: 18552.4  

🇲🇺 Vacoas-Phoenix 57.493,-20.3 d: 18549.8  

🇲🇺 Centre de Flacq 57.718,-20.2 d: 18547.5  

🇲🇺 Quatre Bornes 57.479,-20.266 d: 18545.7  

🇫🇷 Saint-Pierre 55.478,-21.342 d: 18566.4  

🇲🇺 St Pierre 57.517,-20.217 d: 18542  

🇲🇺 Beau Bassin-Rose Hill 57.471,-20.235 d: 18542.2  

🇲🇺 Beau-Bassin Rose-Hill 57.467,-20.233 d: 18541.9  

🇲🇺 Moka 57.496,-20.219 d: 18541.5  

Bing Map

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