| | |  Travel & Outdoors 
Mexico Tourism Sees Increase Despite Drug Violence
 Ivan Moreno - Associated Press
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December 23, 2010
| | Mexican drug violence not deterring tourists from visiting Cancun, Puerto Vallarta | |
Mexico City - Mexico is experiencing its bloodiest year of drug violence yet, but that's not stopping domestic and international vacationers alike from flocking to Cancun.
The resort city on the Mexican Caribbean coast, the Riviera Maya coastline below it and the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta will be named top destinations this year by Orbitz travel website, based on flights and hotel bookings, said spokeswoman Marita Hudson Thomas.
On the Pacific coast, Acapulco Mayor Jose Luis Avila Sanchez is predicting a huge turnout of Mexican travelers, with hotels expected to be nearly full for Christmas and New Year's Day.
Tourism officials in Mexico and the U.S. say holiday travel to Mexico is up from a year ago as vacationers cash in on low-cost tropical holidays.
Tourism revenue is up 7.1 percent in the first 10 months of 2010, compared to the same months of 2009, with visitors spending $9.8 billion, according to the Mexican Tourism Ministry.
Safety is a problem "only in some parts of Mexico" and it "has not affected the major tourist areas of the country," said Miguel Torruco Marques, the president of the National Tourism Confederation, which represents the tourism industry.
The confederation projects that about 22.4 million foreigners will have vacationed in Mexico in 2010, a 4.7 percent increase from last year. Adding in the flood of domestic travelers, the group expects 16.1 million tourists throughout the country for December alone.
Air travel to Mexico is up 6 percent this year compared to 2009, according to American Express Travel data, said travel specialist Linda D'Arcy: It's "all about the value."
A trip for two from Denver, Colorado, to Cancun now costs as little as $823 per person for airfare and five nights at a hotel, according to the Orbitz site. A trip from the U.S. to the Caribbean could cost double, said Chris Russo, president of the American Society of Travel Agents.
"We've had to do a lot of explaining that the Riviera Maya is a long way from the border. It's just taken more education," he said. "We have a big map and we show them."
The Texas Department of Safety warned residents last week not to travel to Mexico for the holidays because of drug cartel violence in northern border cities, as well as in popular tourist towns such as Acapulco.
The Mexican Tourism Ministry retorted by urging "anyone considering a vacation to Mexico to speak w ith any of the millions of Americans, Canadians, and other foreign nationals who chose to vacation at our resorts this year."
The government says most of the violence takes place among the drug cartels themselves. More than 30,000 have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led offense to quash the cartels in 2006.
Crime figures also show the level of violence varies In Huatulco, located in the state of Oaxaca bordering Guerrero, tourism revenue was up slightly this year at $274 million, compared to $262 million last year. Agustin Pumajero, project director for the new El Secreto resort, said Huatulco is one of the safest places in the country.
"You can go out and walk at 1 a.m. and nothing happens," he said.
Associated Press writers Lorena Moguel in Puerto Vallarta; Gabriel Alcocer in Cancun; and Sergio Flores in Acapulco contributed to this report. |
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