A local business man shares his experience of welcoming President Calderon of Mexico as part of his quest to support tourism in Mexico in 2011. The president has pledged to show the beauty, diversity and safety offered by established resorts like Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Riviera Nayarit and Los Cabos. While international attention has been focused on sporadic violence along the US border, many hours from the tranquil beauty of Puerto Vallarta, the president´s campaign puts visitor safety at the top of his agenda.
His overnight stay at the hotel resort Velas Vallarta is one in a series of tour stops to show hesitant would be visitors that they have nothing to worry about.
It all happened so fast and was hard to believe that it actually happened. On Saturday afternoon, we had an unexpected visit at Los Veranos Canopy Tour . They were agents from the Mexican government and were here to see if we would be a suitable and safe place for a last minute visit from Felipe Calderon, the current president of Mexico. Their plan was to film a TV special with CBS correspondent Peter Greenburg, the idea being to promote Mexican tourism filming President Calderon, his three children and Peter Greenburg as they flew through the jungle on the zip lines at Los Veranos Canopy. An hour later, another group of agents showed up. This group seemed a bit more serious and intent on getting things set up and secured for the events to follow some 12 hours later.
Meanwhile, all of Puerto Vallarta was curious if not a bit concerned with all the buzz of low flying helicopters, and by low we are talking 20-30 feet over the water buzzing the entire coastline, and an entourage of black cars bearing license plates stamped with the Mexican flag. Obviously, something big was going down, or someone very important was in town.
Early the next morning, armed personnel in uniform and many more clandestine personnel in street clothes arrived at the sleepy pueblo of Los Veranos in trucks, busses, vans, and cars. Well, by now the word was out. President Calderon and his family would be arriving by helicopter in just a couple of hours! They were to land in the school’s soccer field, a short distance from the Los Veranos Canopy Tour.
When they arrived there was quite a bit of last minute organizing. The camera crews needed special harnesses to accommodate their heavy and unwieldy equipment. Trial runs were done in the briefing area to see if the camera and sound crew could fly over the jungle, 400 feet in the air with some cables crossing the river gorge 1,400 feet to the other side. Not a problem. Next, who is going up? Who is staying behind as ground crew? Who will be walking up to get coverage without going on the cables? All this was accomplished along with brief introductions to all the key personnel needed in about 1 hour. This was absolutely amazing.
After another briefing, the one everyone gets when they visit the Canopy which explains safety, braking, hand signals etc. the group is ready for the tour. Felipe Calderon accompanied by his three Children, Peter Greenburg, Jeff Coates Owner of Los Veranos Canopy Tour and an onslaught of videographers, photographers, sound crew, a handful of Los Veranos professional guides, and numerous security personnel. Off they went on the ziplines.
Since time is always a factor with film crews, the first few warm up beginner cables were skipped. The first cable that the family would use was Chile Piquin which is named after a very small, very hot chile pepper as the cable is short but very fast. Judging by their expressions, the public audience were quite surprised and excited to see what was to come.
The next was Black Diamond. Nearly 1,400 feet long, this line is almost 5 football fields and 500 ft high over the river rapids. It is the Canopy’s longest ride. Since it was only their second cable, I was expecting to see some hesitation. Not in the slightest! President Calderon’s kids were eagerly pushing their way to the front to see which of them got to go first. Of course the youngest won the toss and was the first of the children to cross. They were ecstatic.
As we were now getting up to the highest cables on the tour, the sounds of the helicopters grew closer. I noticed something hanging from the helicopter up above. I never was sure if it was a cameraman or just a remote camera but the Film Director John Feist was in communication with them coaching them in so they could film President Calderon and his family zipping over the river 500 feet in the air.
The group continued up the trail to Dos Cojones, or Two Big Ones.The name speaks for itself. This zip line is reportedly 590 feet high and is the highest cable at Los Veranos Canopy. Again no hesitations from anyone except for maybe the film crew who were lugging 30-pound cameras across every zip line. The tour continued with Real Enchilada, Speedy Gonzales, Banana Split. They reached the last cable, Tequila Screamer which lands you in a riverfront palapa bar with select Tequilas and the world Famous Carla’s Mango Tango, a special Mango Margarita.
As the entourage with all its paparazzi regrouped and got a snack in the palapa President Calderon was calling for his photographer as he noticed his son trying to hold Mango an 8 foot albino python. It proved to be too much for a the small child so his brother and sister stepped up to help him hold up the mammoth reptile. Before they left the three kids got a visit to the animal house where the got to go into the monkey cage and hand feed the squirrel monkeys. Apparently this is a normal event for all the visitors who want to partake in such an activity.
After the black motorcade with red white and green plates drove off an army of men clad in camouflage clothes bearing automatic weapons descended out of the jungle from all directions. After a quick head count they were loaded into a military truck and disappeared.
We are honored that they choose Los Veranos Canopy Tour to be a part of Mexico: The Presidential Tour! I overhead Peter Greenberg tell President Calderon that this was the best tour he had been on in a long time!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa Visits Puerto Vallarta
Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa recently visited Puerto Vallarta to take in the sights and reinforce Mexico’s dedication to its booming tourism industry. During his three days in this tropical resort destination, Hinojosa and his three sons spent time enjoying a canopy tour, among other activities. Read more about Hinojosa’s visit here.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Even Mickey Isn’t Afraid of Mexico
Maryilyn Newman at the Prudential Vallarta Blog wrote a short piece on Disney cruises to Puerto Vallarta:
To see the full post, click here.
I was driving past the Vallarta cruise ship dock yesterday and couldn’t help but notice this gigantic black and white behemoth looming over the street with the name, Disney Wonder, painted on the bow. What a sight. Aha! Mickey isn’t afraid to come to Mexico; why should anyone else?
To see the full post, click here.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Hottest Travel Destinations of 2011
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Catesby Holmes of Travel + Leisure
January 2011
With its colonial architecture and cobblestoned streets, San Miguel de Allende may be a model for historic preservation, but a recent influx of innovative restaurants, art spaces, and hotels is adding a vibrant modern edge to this unesco-protected city. The most telling sign of the city’s evolution? The new Rosewood San Miguel de Allende (doubles from $295), the first international luxury resort, tucked away on four palm-studded acres near the historic center. Hand-carved furniture from Guadalajara decorates the 67 guest rooms, some of which have verandas facing the Gothic-inspired La Parroquia cathedral, while public spaces evoke a hacienda with arcaded walkways and courtyards. Design aficionados will fall for Fábrica La Aurora, a 1902 factory turned art center a 10-minute walk from downtown, with more than two dozen contemporary galleries and boutiques that showcase the region’s best artisans. Stop in at Superficie for colorful tiles made in the nearby town of Dolores Hidalgo, famous for its pottery. At creative Café Rama (lunch for two $17), a bustling downtown lunch spot, try international dishes (Andalusian pulled-pork sandwich) with indigenous ingredients (crunchy jicama). After dark, follow well-heeled locals to the laid-back terrace bar La Azotea (drinks for two $13) and try the signature cactus martini, a tequila-and-vodka concoction blended with Cointreau, lemon, and cranberry.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Mexico Tourism Sees Increase Despite Drug Violence
Dispite a flair up of crime along boarder cities, tourism to Mexico is on the rise according to this Associated Press article. Costal regions farther south such as the Riviera Maya are still drawing in many visitors from the US and Canada with discounted travel rates and inviting resort communities.
To read the entire article, click here.
Tourism officials in Mexico and the U.S. say holiday travel to Mexico is up from a year ago as vacationers cash in on low-cost tropical holidays. Tourism revenue is up 7.1 percent in the first 10 months of 2010, compared to the same months of 2009, with visitors spending $9.8 billion, according to the Mexican Tourism Ministry.
To read the entire article, click here.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Mexico Quandary: Safety or Savings?
By MICHELLE HIGGINS of The New York Times
Published: December 21, 2010
When Alex Trettin and his wife, Jenn, suggested to family and friends that they take a group vacation to Mexico, the reaction was mixed. About half of the group of 29 immediately signed on for the November trip to the Riviera Maya, south of Cancún, where they would visit Maya ruins, fish and lounge by the pool at an upscale resort for the bargain price of $150 a person a night. The other half hesitated, citing concern about Mexico’s continuing drug war.
“My aunt stated she hoped we didn’t have any issues with the drug cartels,” said Mr. Trettin, a Mexico-travel specialist in Tacoma, Wash., who assured everyone that the beach resort they were going to near Playa del Carmen was far from the violent clashes they had seen on television. Ultimately, they all went, but the concerns that some in the group expressed are indicative of the quandary many travelers face when they consider the safety risks versus the convenience and affordability of a vacation in Mexico.
While most of the drug-related violence has been in the northern border region of Mexico, far from the Maya temples of the Yucatán, the regional cuisine of Oaxaca or the beaches of Baja California Sur, violence has erupted in tourist destinations like Acapulco and the state of Michoacán, home to the famous monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Even Cancún’s safety was questioned earlier this year after eight employees of a strip club there were killed when a group of men threw Molotov cocktails into the building in an area not frequented by tourists.
To combat the perception that violence has been widespread, tourism officials in Mexico have invested $30 million in advertising and social media initiatives to spread the word that much of the country is safe for tourists. “Visitors have the right to be well informed,” said Alfonso Sumano, the regional director for the Mexico Tourism Board for the Americas. Many of the affected areas, he said, “are very far from the destinations tourists visit.”
The latest travel warning, issued by the State Department in September, urged American citizens to defer unnecessary travel specifically to Michoacán and areas along the northern border, including Tamaulipas, and parts of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, where tourists generally don’t go. Yet, ever cautious, it stated, “violence has occurred throughout the country, including in areas frequented by American tourists.” Visitors were encouraged to stay on main roads in daylight hours and to remain in well-known tourist areas.
All of this has made travel to Mexico a hard sell lately, but travel agents say the negative publicity has also made Mexico among the best values out there as resorts lower rates or add free incentives to entice travelers. When asked where agents are recommending travelers go to get the most for their dollar this year, 70 percent said Mexico, according to Travel Leaders, a major network of agents.
“A lot of clients will come here and say, ‘I’ll go anywhere except Mexico,’ ” said Kate Rosevear, owner of a Travel Leaders agency in Plymouth, Mich. “Quite often we’ll be able to talk them back around to it based on the value.”
Some of the deals agents and tourism officials point out include Casa Ticul, a boutique hotel in Playa del Carmen, which is offering 20 percent off rates of $171 a night to travelers who book a January stay by the end of December. Villa del Palmar Cancún, a new all-inclusive resort in Playa Mujeres with a Greg Norman-designed golf course, has rates from $186 a person a night during the holidays and a rate of $142 a person a night after that — up to 60 percent off. And St. Regis Punta Mita is offering butler service, a third night free, a $50 resort credit per room and a glass of Champagne with its Welcome to Paradise deal from $580 a night for stays starting Jan. 11.
Mexican Destinations, the Mexico Villa brand of the rental company VacationRoost, has trained its agents to educate clients who call with safety concerns about how far its villas are from reported violence, and is offering specials of 25 to 50 percent off. One deal is Casa del Sol, a four-bedroom, five-bath property on the Pacific Coast in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where rates have been slashed to $750 a night, from $1,500, in early January.
The pricing strategy seems to be working. The number of international tourists arriving in Mexico by air from January to October was 8.2 million, according to the latest data from the Mexico Tourist Board. That is an increase of 17.8 percent compared with the same period last year, when Mexico endured a down economy, H1N1 scares and drug violence. Visitors are up 6.4 percent over the same period in 2008, which was considered to be one of the best years for travel to Mexico. The number of American travelers increased by 13.4 percent, compared with the same time period in 2009.
Many resorts say safety is at the top of their guests’ minds. “When our reservations manager receives requests, the first question that is asked is if there has been violence in this area,” said Giorgio Brignone, the proprietor of Costa Careyes, a luxury resort two hours south of Puerto Vallarta, which has added free airport transfers to and from Manzanillo. To put jittery travelers at ease, the company has placed ads in magazines promoting “a different Mexico.” In addition, the company’s Web site highlighted the 24-hour security at the resort.
Part of the problem is that many travelers are unclear about where the violence has occurred and how it might affect their vacation, Mr. Brignone said. “People don’t realize that there are many regions and areas in the country that are not affected by the violence and drug wars,” he said. “It’s like saying I will not go to Dallas, or New York, because there are problems or riots in Los Angeles.”
Still, there are some tourist destinations travelers should steer clear of, at least for now. “I would not encourage my family to visit Acapulco right now,” said Josh Miller, who lives in Mexico City and is the general director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for Control Risks, a risk management firm. “While a wonderful place to visit,” he said, “violent confrontations have been spilling over from the military effort against the cartels.” Travelers should also hold off on visits to Michoacán, in central Mexico. The state is a stronghold of La Familia, a drug cartel known for bold ambushes.
Popular resort areas, including Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa and Cancún’s resort strip are generally safe for travelers, Mr. Miller said, particularly if visitors stay within the resort’s boundaries. “Mexico is a volatile place,” he said. “You have to have your itinerary planned out quite well, consider transportation and stay abreast of latest developments.”
Some travelers who have been to Mexico before are surprised when friends express safety concerns. “Everybody was like, ‘What? You are going to Mexico?’ ” said Tina Youtsey, a dog groomer from Milan, Mich., who went to the Riviera Maya with her teenage daughter last month. “Seriously,” she said, “the drug lords aren’t hanging out at the resort.” Having visited Mexico two times before, she added, “I wasn’t really worried.”
Published: December 21, 2010
When Alex Trettin and his wife, Jenn, suggested to family and friends that they take a group vacation to Mexico, the reaction was mixed. About half of the group of 29 immediately signed on for the November trip to the Riviera Maya, south of Cancún, where they would visit Maya ruins, fish and lounge by the pool at an upscale resort for the bargain price of $150 a person a night. The other half hesitated, citing concern about Mexico’s continuing drug war.
“My aunt stated she hoped we didn’t have any issues with the drug cartels,” said Mr. Trettin, a Mexico-travel specialist in Tacoma, Wash., who assured everyone that the beach resort they were going to near Playa del Carmen was far from the violent clashes they had seen on television. Ultimately, they all went, but the concerns that some in the group expressed are indicative of the quandary many travelers face when they consider the safety risks versus the convenience and affordability of a vacation in Mexico.
While most of the drug-related violence has been in the northern border region of Mexico, far from the Maya temples of the Yucatán, the regional cuisine of Oaxaca or the beaches of Baja California Sur, violence has erupted in tourist destinations like Acapulco and the state of Michoacán, home to the famous monarch butterfly sanctuaries. Even Cancún’s safety was questioned earlier this year after eight employees of a strip club there were killed when a group of men threw Molotov cocktails into the building in an area not frequented by tourists.
To combat the perception that violence has been widespread, tourism officials in Mexico have invested $30 million in advertising and social media initiatives to spread the word that much of the country is safe for tourists. “Visitors have the right to be well informed,” said Alfonso Sumano, the regional director for the Mexico Tourism Board for the Americas. Many of the affected areas, he said, “are very far from the destinations tourists visit.”
The latest travel warning, issued by the State Department in September, urged American citizens to defer unnecessary travel specifically to Michoacán and areas along the northern border, including Tamaulipas, and parts of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, where tourists generally don’t go. Yet, ever cautious, it stated, “violence has occurred throughout the country, including in areas frequented by American tourists.” Visitors were encouraged to stay on main roads in daylight hours and to remain in well-known tourist areas.
All of this has made travel to Mexico a hard sell lately, but travel agents say the negative publicity has also made Mexico among the best values out there as resorts lower rates or add free incentives to entice travelers. When asked where agents are recommending travelers go to get the most for their dollar this year, 70 percent said Mexico, according to Travel Leaders, a major network of agents.
“A lot of clients will come here and say, ‘I’ll go anywhere except Mexico,’ ” said Kate Rosevear, owner of a Travel Leaders agency in Plymouth, Mich. “Quite often we’ll be able to talk them back around to it based on the value.”
Some of the deals agents and tourism officials point out include Casa Ticul, a boutique hotel in Playa del Carmen, which is offering 20 percent off rates of $171 a night to travelers who book a January stay by the end of December. Villa del Palmar Cancún, a new all-inclusive resort in Playa Mujeres with a Greg Norman-designed golf course, has rates from $186 a person a night during the holidays and a rate of $142 a person a night after that — up to 60 percent off. And St. Regis Punta Mita is offering butler service, a third night free, a $50 resort credit per room and a glass of Champagne with its Welcome to Paradise deal from $580 a night for stays starting Jan. 11.
Mexican Destinations, the Mexico Villa brand of the rental company VacationRoost, has trained its agents to educate clients who call with safety concerns about how far its villas are from reported violence, and is offering specials of 25 to 50 percent off. One deal is Casa del Sol, a four-bedroom, five-bath property on the Pacific Coast in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where rates have been slashed to $750 a night, from $1,500, in early January.
The pricing strategy seems to be working. The number of international tourists arriving in Mexico by air from January to October was 8.2 million, according to the latest data from the Mexico Tourist Board. That is an increase of 17.8 percent compared with the same period last year, when Mexico endured a down economy, H1N1 scares and drug violence. Visitors are up 6.4 percent over the same period in 2008, which was considered to be one of the best years for travel to Mexico. The number of American travelers increased by 13.4 percent, compared with the same time period in 2009.
Many resorts say safety is at the top of their guests’ minds. “When our reservations manager receives requests, the first question that is asked is if there has been violence in this area,” said Giorgio Brignone, the proprietor of Costa Careyes, a luxury resort two hours south of Puerto Vallarta, which has added free airport transfers to and from Manzanillo. To put jittery travelers at ease, the company has placed ads in magazines promoting “a different Mexico.” In addition, the company’s Web site highlighted the 24-hour security at the resort.
Part of the problem is that many travelers are unclear about where the violence has occurred and how it might affect their vacation, Mr. Brignone said. “People don’t realize that there are many regions and areas in the country that are not affected by the violence and drug wars,” he said. “It’s like saying I will not go to Dallas, or New York, because there are problems or riots in Los Angeles.”
Still, there are some tourist destinations travelers should steer clear of, at least for now. “I would not encourage my family to visit Acapulco right now,” said Josh Miller, who lives in Mexico City and is the general director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for Control Risks, a risk management firm. “While a wonderful place to visit,” he said, “violent confrontations have been spilling over from the military effort against the cartels.” Travelers should also hold off on visits to Michoacán, in central Mexico. The state is a stronghold of La Familia, a drug cartel known for bold ambushes.
Popular resort areas, including Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa and Cancún’s resort strip are generally safe for travelers, Mr. Miller said, particularly if visitors stay within the resort’s boundaries. “Mexico is a volatile place,” he said. “You have to have your itinerary planned out quite well, consider transportation and stay abreast of latest developments.”
Some travelers who have been to Mexico before are surprised when friends express safety concerns. “Everybody was like, ‘What? You are going to Mexico?’ ” said Tina Youtsey, a dog groomer from Milan, Mich., who went to the Riviera Maya with her teenage daughter last month. “Seriously,” she said, “the drug lords aren’t hanging out at the resort.” Having visited Mexico two times before, she added, “I wasn’t really worried.”
Monday, December 13, 2010
Is it safe to travel to Mexico? Judging from the numbers, many are saying 'Yes'
By Jayne Clark, USA TODAY
The beach at Tulum, at the southern end of Mexico's Riviera Maya. Visitation to Mexico is up, despite concerns about drug violence. Despite tales of drug violence, visitation to Mexico was up almost 19% over last year, as of September. And with 22.6 million tourists expected by year's end, numbers will about equal the record-breaking totals in 2008. About 80% of visitors are North American.
In fact, slightly more foreigners are vacationing in Mexico now than before the drug wars, which have killed about 30,000 (mostly drug traffickers) in the past four years, The Economist reported in November. Mexico now ranks No. 10 in international arrivals worldwide.
I'm just back from San Miguel de Allende, a gorgeous colonial city in central Mexico (read about it Friday at usatoday.com/travel), where, not surprisingly, more than one conversation during my visit turned toward security concerns.
But not the sort of concerns you might think. The Americans I spoke with there were worried about the bum rap they believe the entire country is getting due to drug violence that , for the most part, is concentrated hundreds of miles away near the U.S. border.
"There is very little crime here, and what there is doesn't affect gringos," said Irina Posner, a retired CBS News employee and one of an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 ex-pats who live full or part-time in San Miguel. " We love this town. We feel safe in this town."
So did I, covering miles of narrow, cobbled walkways solo by day and by night in the 17th-century city. I felt as secure as I do in my own neighborhood, yet some innkeepers say they've had cancellations due to safety concerns.
Americans are notoriously near-sighted when it comes to geographical perspective. It's an issue Mexico's new tourism secretary Gloria Guevara addressed in an on-line seminar sponsored by the trade publication, Travel Weekly, last month. She acknowledged there are places in Mexico that tourists should avoid, specifically Matamoros and Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border. (And frankly, aside from those looking to do a cheap booze run, I'm not sure who would have frequented those border towns even before the drug-cartel bloodbaths).
"But for the rest of the country, you can relax and enjoy yourself," she told the Travel Weekly audience.
Actually, as someone who has traveled all over Mexico, I think I'd also skip Acapulco, which had a spate of nasty drug-related killings in September. But Acapulco many years ago ceased to be an American vacation destination.
Mexico's tourist sweet spot is Cancun, about 1,000 miles from Ciudad Juarez. Aside from an August bar shooting in a working-class neighborhood far removed from the resort zone, there has been no reported drug violence there. Another popular, earthier destination, is the Copper Canyon, which lies more than 200 miles from the border, or about the distance between New York and Baltimore.
"If you were planning a trip to New York, would you cancel it if you heard about challenges in Baltimore?" Guevara asked.
Vacation costs -- mainly hotels -- are down in Mexico. The average tourist spends about 5% less than in 2008, The Economist reports. And a number of forecasters are predicting that discounting in Cancun and south along the Riviera Maya will make that region particularly popular this winter.
The website Travelzoo , for instance, lists a four-night package, with air and all meals and drinks starting at $562 per person, double. It's good for travel Jan. 4-31, but must be booked by Jan. 10.
Another website, Smarter Travel, cites increased air service as likely to boost travel to Mexico. On Dec. 1, Southwest Airlines joined with Mexican carrier Volaris, allowing customers to travel on a single itinerary booked on Southwest. On Dec. 15, Alaska Airlines begins service between San Jose and Guadalajara, and from Sacramento on Dec. 16. On Feb. 10, American Eagle launches daily nonstop service from Dallas to Veracruz and Queretaro. And on Feb. 12, American begins seasonal service between Chicago and Cozumel.
How do you feel about vacationing in Mexico?
The beach at Tulum, at the southern end of Mexico's Riviera Maya. Visitation to Mexico is up, despite concerns about drug violence. Despite tales of drug violence, visitation to Mexico was up almost 19% over last year, as of September. And with 22.6 million tourists expected by year's end, numbers will about equal the record-breaking totals in 2008. About 80% of visitors are North American.
In fact, slightly more foreigners are vacationing in Mexico now than before the drug wars, which have killed about 30,000 (mostly drug traffickers) in the past four years, The Economist reported in November. Mexico now ranks No. 10 in international arrivals worldwide.
I'm just back from San Miguel de Allende, a gorgeous colonial city in central Mexico (read about it Friday at usatoday.com/travel), where, not surprisingly, more than one conversation during my visit turned toward security concerns.
But not the sort of concerns you might think. The Americans I spoke with there were worried about the bum rap they believe the entire country is getting due to drug violence that , for the most part, is concentrated hundreds of miles away near the U.S. border.
"There is very little crime here, and what there is doesn't affect gringos," said Irina Posner, a retired CBS News employee and one of an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 ex-pats who live full or part-time in San Miguel. " We love this town. We feel safe in this town."
So did I, covering miles of narrow, cobbled walkways solo by day and by night in the 17th-century city. I felt as secure as I do in my own neighborhood, yet some innkeepers say they've had cancellations due to safety concerns.
Americans are notoriously near-sighted when it comes to geographical perspective. It's an issue Mexico's new tourism secretary Gloria Guevara addressed in an on-line seminar sponsored by the trade publication, Travel Weekly, last month. She acknowledged there are places in Mexico that tourists should avoid, specifically Matamoros and Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border. (And frankly, aside from those looking to do a cheap booze run, I'm not sure who would have frequented those border towns even before the drug-cartel bloodbaths).
"But for the rest of the country, you can relax and enjoy yourself," she told the Travel Weekly audience.
Actually, as someone who has traveled all over Mexico, I think I'd also skip Acapulco, which had a spate of nasty drug-related killings in September. But Acapulco many years ago ceased to be an American vacation destination.
Mexico's tourist sweet spot is Cancun, about 1,000 miles from Ciudad Juarez. Aside from an August bar shooting in a working-class neighborhood far removed from the resort zone, there has been no reported drug violence there. Another popular, earthier destination, is the Copper Canyon, which lies more than 200 miles from the border, or about the distance between New York and Baltimore.
"If you were planning a trip to New York, would you cancel it if you heard about challenges in Baltimore?" Guevara asked.
Vacation costs -- mainly hotels -- are down in Mexico. The average tourist spends about 5% less than in 2008, The Economist reports. And a number of forecasters are predicting that discounting in Cancun and south along the Riviera Maya will make that region particularly popular this winter.
The website Travelzoo , for instance, lists a four-night package, with air and all meals and drinks starting at $562 per person, double. It's good for travel Jan. 4-31, but must be booked by Jan. 10.
Another website, Smarter Travel, cites increased air service as likely to boost travel to Mexico. On Dec. 1, Southwest Airlines joined with Mexican carrier Volaris, allowing customers to travel on a single itinerary booked on Southwest. On Dec. 15, Alaska Airlines begins service between San Jose and Guadalajara, and from Sacramento on Dec. 16. On Feb. 10, American Eagle launches daily nonstop service from Dallas to Veracruz and Queretaro. And on Feb. 12, American begins seasonal service between Chicago and Cozumel.
How do you feel about vacationing in Mexico?
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