Mexico Tourism Leaders, Experts Address Traveler Safety

Google recorded in March 2023 a 200% increase in the number of times people ask how safe it is to travel to Cancun following the travel alert issued by the United States in October 2022.

On March 13, the US State Department issued a travel alert warning its citizens to exercise caution when planning their spring break vacations in Mexico following the kidnapping in early March of four American tourists in Matamoros, on the Texas border, two of whom were killed in the country while, they said, attending an appointment for cosmetic surgery.

Zachary Rabinor, a US founder of the travel agency Journey Mexico, warned that calculating the damage done to tourism by a US travel alert is complicated. “We can’t measure the loss of people who never called or simply decided to go to Yosemite, Florida, or the Caribbean,” he said.

Although the governor of Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, Mara Lezama, told TravelPulse, “99.999998% of tourists who come to vacation in Mexico return safe and sound. We had an episode, but it is not usual or the rule. The vast majority of tourists have no problems in Mexico.”

Of Mexico’s 32 states, only two, Yucatan and Campeche, are on Level 1 travel alerts from the US Department inviting its citizens to “take normal precautions” when traveling to those destinations; 17 are on Level 2, which means “take greater precautions when traveling”; seven are classified as Level 3, recommending “reconsider travel”; while six entities: Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas, are included in the Level 4 alert with the warning “do not travel” to those destinations, due to the crimes and kidnappings that prevail in those territories.

Gerardo “Elvis” Vidales, director of Tourism of the Ministry of Innovation and Economic Development in Chihuahua, mentioned that the state enjoys tranquility and no incident with any tourist has been reported. The state has been in the news in the last month due to the death of an alleged drug trafficker who had two Jesuit priests killed. “The Chepe (Chihuahua-Pacific) Train continues to attract North American tourists who enjoy the wonderful scenery,” Vidales told TravelPulse.

Mexico on their bucket lists
Google’s report recorded in the week following the early March incident in Matamoros that searches for travel ideas to Mexico declined in popularity by 75%, according to Google Trends statistics. Since then, they have continued to decline.

“We are getting cancellations and are doing everything we can to clear up the confusion, but it’s easier said than done. Some people have already decided and, as a result, we’ve lost business,” said Steph Farr, co-owner of Maya Luxe. This agency manages 100 luxury homes in the Riviera Maya.

What she describes is not a large-scale loss of business but a significant disruption. Farr said her sales team recorded the cancellation of at least eight bookings in February, all in response to State Department security alerts, even before the incident in Matamoros brought the security issue in Mexico into the news

Despite that, Alyson Nash, travel planner for Cloud 10, an agency affiliated with Virtuoso, said she had received many calls from travelers who have kept Mexico on their bucket lists, especially for travel during the year-end vacations.

He says crime is an occasional concern, trumped by inflation, rising taxes, room rates, and fees. “The indecisions tend to relate less to safety and more to prices,” Nash added.

Tourists, the least concerned
Other travel advisors report that their clients are unfazed. “I think people are over the sensationalism,” says Jack Ezon, travel agency Embark Beyond co-founder. “Americans are numb-it’s almost a new perspective since COVID.” Before, he would have expected to be busy fielding calls about security concerns and counting cancellations. Now, says Ezon, “we’ve seen nothing, not a single hesitation.”

The same is true, he adds, in Paris, Israel, and Turkey, where political instability and earthquakes have been in the news.

Rabinor, a travel agent and founder of Journey Mexico, offers a stark reminder: while his company’s bottom line depends on sending travelers to Mexico, it depends even more on ensuring the safety of its guests and staff. “We would be the first to use a contingency plan or advise a change in the itinerary if there was any risk, both to our staff and clients,” he explains.

Cloud 10’s Alyson Nash nails the point by saying, “Crime registers as only an occasional concern, outweighed by inflation and increases in taxes and room rates. Any hesitation tends to be less about safety and more about price.”

Two exemplary cases
In 2017, Baja California Sur, home to Los Cabos and other places where many North American tourists arrive, had high rates of violence. One day four bodies dawned hanging on a vehicular bridge. After this incident, several hotel managers acted and asked the authorities for support. The local government sent them to the federal government, who told them that barracks were needed but that they did not have the resources to build one.

So, the hoteliers sought advice in the United States, invested 19 million dollars, and today, in the first quarter of 2023, is in the penultimate stage of construction with the guidelines provided by the US Army. In addition, the Mexican Navy sent a regiment that had been guarding and maintaining the area in peace for five years. No other incidents of this type have been reported.

For his part, Enrique Galindo Ceballos, mayor of the city of San Luis Potosi, relied on the training and professionalization of security personnel. Thus, he provided improvement and training courses for the city’s police officers. He also created the Tourist Police, which speaks English and patrols the town of San Luis Potosi to ensure the safety of visitors.

The Mexico City government also created a corps of tourist police who speak English and cover the vast city from the Basilica of Guadalupe, through the neighborhoods of La Roma and La Condesa, Coyoacan, San Angel, and Xochimilco, with 100 uniformed officers who provide tourist advisory services. Some 20% of the police speak English, and some members speak French, German, and Mandarin. This police department is the second effort of the local Mexican authorities to find a special police corp to guarantee security for local and foreign tourists. The first Tourist Police in Mexico City was established a decade ago.