Thread: Mexico sets tourism record despite drug violence

Mexico sets tourism record despite drug violence

February 13, 2012 | 12:58pm

REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY — Mexico attracted a record number of foreign visitors last year despite a frightening drug war that is prompting travel warnings for a number of areas around the country.

Mexico’s tourism agency released new figures (link in Spanish) showing that the number of foreign travelers arriving by air in 2011 rose to 22.7 million, the most since the Bank of Mexico began keeping track in 1980. There was growth in each of the last five months of the year, officials said.

Tourism also got a boost from Mexican travelers, who registered 167 million visits to tourist spots. The total of Mexican and foreign tourists was 2% higher than for 2008, which had been the best year on record.

The number of air travelers from the United States to Mexico fell by 3% last year, but tourists from other countries — especially Brazil, Russia, Peru and China — registered sizable increases over 2010.

The enduring carnage of the drug war, with about 50,000 dead in the last five years, has generated substantial media coverage abroad.

Travel operators and Mexican resorts have sought to fill rooms by offering discounts in places such as Acapulco, now among the deadliest spots in the country, though most of the violence occurs far from the main tourist strip. Mexico remains a relatively affordable destination and, generally speaking, the tourist centers of well-known resort areas such as Cancun and Los Cabos have not suffered drug-related slayings.

The State Department’s latest travel warning for Mexico says Americans should avoid travel in parts or all of 14 states around the country, and several others where travelers should exercise caution.

Last week’s warning is more detailed than prior announcements about potential trouble spots and the perils there. Few major tourist areas are mentioned, though travelers are urged to exercise caution in Acapulco, Ixtapa and Zihuatenejo — all in the violence-plagued state of Guerrero — and in Mazatlan, a popular beach spot in the northwestern state of Sinaloa where killings have soared since 2009.

Tourism is one of Mexico's top sources of foreign income.

Mexico sets tourism record despite drug violence - latimes.com

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What they failed to mention is that many of these "tourists" that are entering Mexico never departed by plane.

They landed in Mexico and crossed north illegally into the United States flooding in from China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc...

The whole world knows the Southern Border of the US has been forced wide open by treasonous politicians and their corporate and banking partners.

Just get to Mexico, head north, pay the smugglers, walk into the US one night and your chances of deportation are less than 1%.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

What they failed to mention is that many of these "tourists" that are entering Mexico never departed by plane.

They landed in Mexico and crossed north illegally into the United States flooding in from China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc...

The whole world knows the Southern Border of the US has been forced wide open by treasonous politicians and their corporate and banking partners.

Just get to Mexico, head north, pay the smugglers, walk into the US one night and your chances of deportation are less than 1%.

W

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Article source is L.A. Times, which is an extension of the Mexican government.

Foreign tourists shrug off Mexico drug violence

(AFP)

MEXICO CITY — Ignoring gruesome news stories of ongoing drug violence, Mexico for the third consecutive year saw an increase in foreign visitors, government tourism figures out Monday showed.

Some 22.6 million foreigners visited Mexico in 2011, just slightly less than the record 23 million in 2008, the office of Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara said in a statement.

The figure is two percent higher than 2010, and 5.7 percent higher than 2009, the statement said.

Tourism is Mexico's third most important source of hard currency, after oil exports and remittances by Mexicans living abroad.

Foreign tourists last year also spent more money, on average $158 per day -- a seven percent increase over 2010 figures, which had been the record high.

Mexico's main source of foreign visitors is the United States, which saw a three percent drop in 2011 compared to the previous year.

However there was a seven percent increase in Canadian visitors to 1.7 million, the figures showed.

Mexico saw a 55 percent increase in visitors from Russia; a 13 percent increase from Italy; and a 10 percent increase from France.

Mexico is also the most important tourist destination for Latin Americans, the statement read.

AFP: Foreign tourists shrug off Mexico drug violence