Mexico tourist areas safe, hotels say

Hotel and tourism officials in Mexico say the country’s tourism areas are safe – and get backing from US officials.

Hotel and tourism officials in Mexico say the country’s tourism areas are safe – and get backing from US officials.

Tourist areas in Mexico are safe for American visitors, local tourist and U.S. government officials say. โ€We recognize that there is concern over the drug trafficking violence in our country,โ€ says Jorge Apaez, president for Mexico for UK-based hotel giant Inter-Continental Hotels group, which owns brands like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza. โ€œHowever, they are taking place in specific areas, not throughout our countryโ€ฆWeโ€™re not trying to hide our situation, but you canโ€™t generalize.โ€

Already, several thousands of American spring breakers are visiting Mexico without problems, he adds.

TRAVEL BOYCOTT?

Last week, Bill Oโ€™Reilly of the Oโ€™Reilly Factor on Fox News urged an American travel boycott of all Mexican destinations, not just those singled out by U.S. officials as dangerous such as Ciudad Juarez, the nation’s most violent city. โ€œItโ€™s important to be informed and conscious of the different areas and not send the message that the whole country is a risky destination,โ€ Apaez says.

Travel to Mexico benefits not only that country, but also the U.S. economy at a time of crisis, he argues. โ€œIt generates revenues and jobs even within the United States,โ€ Apaez says.

Meanwhile, Americans benefit since Mexico now offers an exceptionally inexpensive vacation alternative thanks to the depreciation of the local currency. โ€œOur currency now trades at 15 to the dollar, which makes Mexico a real godsend,โ€ he says.

The peso, the worst performer among the worldโ€™s most-traded currencies in the past six months, will weaken another 17 percent by year-end as the nationโ€™s twin deficits swell, prominent local economist Rogelio Ramirez de la O told Bloomberg yesterday.

VIOLENCE LOCALIZED

On Friday, U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid specified that the violence is not affecting all of Mexico. โ€œWe noticed that many of the violent activities are localized in several different places,โ€ he said. โ€œThey are not general across the north of Mexico, let alone through Mexico, the entire country itself. โ€œ

Last year, 18.3 million tourists visited Mexico. Cancun is the top destination, with more than two million American tourists last year. Hotel officials in Cancun emphasize that the city is safe and the cityโ€™s hotel zone has been unscathed from the drug violence affecting border areas a thousand miles away.

โ€œWe were only supposed to stay here for two weeks, but decided to stay for another week, so if we didnโ€™t feel safe we wouldnโ€™t be here now,โ€ Joanne Snyder from Carmel, Indiana said in a video interview posted on the web site of the Cancun Convention and Visitorโ€™s Bureau. The interview โ€“ along with several others — was taped on Thursday last week, said Erandeni Abundis, a spokeswoman for the bureau.

HIGH OCCUPANCY RATES

Apaez says that Inter-Continentalโ€™s properties in Cancun boasted 74 percent occupancy in January, while the Holiday Inn in Puerto Vallarta managed to reach 96 percent.

Even the worst cities affected by the violence such as Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua managed to achieve occupancy rates of 70 percent and 62 percent last year. โ€œThese results show that travel continues,โ€ he says.

The safe environment in tourism resorts, combined with a very attractive exchange rate, should be a clear draw for Americans, he argues.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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