Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - On August 15, 2014, the US Department of State updated its official travel warning regarding unsafe areas of Mexico to avoid. This advisory replaces the January 2014 Travel Warning for Mexico to update information about the security situation and to advise the public of additional restrictions on the travel of U.S. government personnel.

The good news for tourists is that Mexico's most popular vacation destinations - including Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit, Cancun, the Riviera Maya, Mexico City, Los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Merida, Chichen Itza, and Oaxaca - are still exempted.

The good news for all of us here in the greater Banderas Bay region is that the US State Department's report reads:

"There is NO recommendation against travel to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco..." and "There is NO recommendation against travel to the Vallarta-Nayarit area in the southern portion of the state known as the Riviera Nayarit, Tepic, Xalisco, and San Blas, or to principal highways in the southern portion of the state used to travel from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta."

Over the past year, the Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit CVBs have been aggressively promoting this tourist destination through an ambitious promotional campaign in US and Canadian markets and, with foreign tourists heading to Vallarta-Nayarit in far greater numbers than in recent years, their efforts seem to be paying off.

According to Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, 1.42 million international visitors passed through the Puerto Vallarta International Airport in the first seven months of 2014. That's a massive increase of 18.9 percent when compared to last year.

And, just last week, the Bank of Mexico released a statement saying that the country's international tourism grew 19.6 percent in the first six months of 2014, compared to the same period last year.

The updated travel advisory also says that "Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day." So what are you waiting for? Start planning your Mexico dream vacation today!