REGION: Mexican officials say new passport rules may lead to fewer visitors

By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

Sunday, April 26, 2009 6:32 PM PDT


Mexican merchants who cater to Americans say they worry that new rules requiring Americans to have passports will lead to fewer visitors south of the border.

"I think this is going to affect tourism very much," said Hugo Torres, the mayor of Rosarito Beach, a popular beachside resort town about 20 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Torres, who also owns the historic Rosarito Beach Hotel, and others say many visitors are day-trippers who decide on a whim to go for the day to dine and shop.

Merchants in Mexico already have been hammered by the U.S.'s sagging economy, the ongoing and increasingly bloody drug war and the hours-long border waits, all of which have contributed to fewer visitors traveling to the area.

Torres said his city experienced a 50 percent drop over last year in visitors during the usually busy Spring Break period earlier this month. He attributed much of the slide on media depictions of the area's drug violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives over the last year.

Federal travel warnings about the violence did not help matters, Torres said. The mayor and U.S. officials say tourists are not the targets of the cartels.

NORTH COUNTY TIMES