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. โWe 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. โHowever, they are taking place in specific areas, not throughout our countryโฆWeโre not trying to hide our situation, but you canโt generalize.โ
Already, several thousands of American spring breakers are visiting Mexico without problems, he adds.
TRAVEL BOYCOTT?
Last week, Bill OโReilly of the OโReilly 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. โItโs 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. โIt 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. โOur currency now trades at 15 to the dollar, which makes Mexico a real godsend,โ he says.
The peso, the worst performer among the worldโs most-traded currencies in the past six months, will weaken another 17 percent by year-end as the nationโs 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. โWe noticed that many of the violent activities are localized in several different places,โ he said. โThey are not general across the north of Mexico, let alone through Mexico, the entire country itself. โ
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 cityโs hotel zone has been unscathed from the drug violence affecting border areas a thousand miles away.
โWe were only supposed to stay here for two weeks, but decided to stay for another week, so if we didnโt feel safe we wouldnโt be here now,โ Joanne Snyder from Carmel, Indiana said in a video interview posted on the web site of the Cancun Convention and Visitorโs 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-Continentalโs 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. โThese 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.