Skip to main content
Support
Article

Mexico Institute in the News: Despite Bad Press and Travel Warnings, Mexico Tourism Holds its Own

Miguel Salazar

While there are security concerns in parts of Mexico, tourists continue to travel to other regions of Mexico for vacation.

March 9, 2012, CNN

...Judging from social media, not everyone is avoiding Mexico this spring break. And, despite a steady stream of bad press and travel warnings, Mexico is counting on a good year for tourism...

...The southeast consists of resort areas such as Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, as well as Mayan cultural destinations, a key area of focus for the tourist board in 2012. Analysts say efforts to direct tourists to the southeast reflect the experience of most visitors to the country who stay away from areas in northern Mexico plagued by cartel-related violence.

 

"While there are security concerns in certain areas in the country, particularly in the north, travel to traditional tourist destinations along the Mayan Riviera remain safe,"

said Miguel Salazar of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to Americans to avoid all but essential travel to all or parts of 14 of 31 Mexican states. No advisory is in effect for Yucatan, Quintana Roo or Campeche, states that make up the Yucatan Peninsula, or for that matter, Mexico City, the nation's capital. 

"The fact that tourist destinations along the Mayan Riviera still remain safe is further underscored by the State Department's most recent travel warnings, which shows that not all of Mexico is experiencing increased violence as a result of efforts to confront organized crime,"

Salazar said.  Read full article here.

About the Author

Miguel Salazar

Miguel Salazar

Read More

Mexico Institute

The Mexico Institute seeks to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship. A binational Advisory Board, chaired by Luis Téllez and Earl Anthony Wayne, oversees the work of the Mexico Institute.   Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more