While Erika Garcia may technically sell vacations, she looks at it a bit differently.
“We’re not offering a holiday, we’re selling happiness,” Erika says.
After working for over 18 years in the business, Erika has fully come to realize that she’s in the business of people. On the ground, she runs a vacation business, managing her clients’ experiences from the beginning to end with their Cancun Cards. She doesn’t view her service as that of a broker, travel agency, or tour company. Instead, she sees it as connecting clients with experiences directly.
“Our clients want to get back some kind of connection with themselves, their families, and nature. We have discovered that the reason behind people taking holidays is the feeling of not being good enough, that life is not necessarily always outside themselves. Life happens in moments and those moments have to be created in a memorable way,” Erika says.
Beyond her philosophy toward her business are some hard facts: vacations are directly related to happiness, and, for her business and corporate clients, directly related to employee productivity. In short, happier and more traveled workers are more motivated, more profitable, and more beneficial to their company as a whole.
The realities of mental health in the workplace have become increasingly important throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A study by CyberClick shows the scope of consequences caused by poor mental health includes reduced productivity, poor communication, reduced focus, low moral, and an increased likelihood of physical health issues and substance abuse.
Beyond worker happiness, Erika knows that companies actually lose money (between $80 and $100 billion annually overall, as found by CyberClick) when their employees do not take all their vacation days, a stance that is backed by research and statistics by the USA Travel Association. The responsibility of supporting employees’ mental health is held by the employer, as Erika encourages those in management positions to keep an eye out for how high stress levels in their employees may be causing them to make uncharacteristic mistakes, appear tired and disconnection, or becoming more introverted and less talkative than normal.
To combat this, Erika provides the opportunity for businesses to support their employees’ mental health through vacation. Much like how she prioritizes her own mental health as she runs her own business, Erika understands that mindset is key to both success internally and professionally.
“You change your thoughts, you change your mindset, you change your energy, and then you change your future. Mindset is crucial. The mind is the body, the mind controls the thought. The fuel of the mind should be a coherent heart, you get this by clear intentions and elevated emotions,” Erika explains.
Erika’s understanding of the importance of vacation for employee mindset, beyond it being a good time, is a central part of her business, and how she is able to differentiate herself in a crowded space.
“We are a company with purpose. For the last 18 years we have helped multiple organizations in courting holidays to currency so they can help themselves and help others. We’ve helped institutional and credible foundations that are amazing and those foundations are helping people and educating people. We have had purpose throughout the last 11 years in a very concurrent and defiant way, and that is what makes us different,” Erika explains.
To learn more about how vacations lead to more productive employees, you can read more in the Forbes and CNBC articles. To follow Erika for the most up to date insights, give her a follow on Instagram. To find out more about Erika’s cancun cards click here