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I Need a Place To Visit in Mexico

Ever wanted to know the best places to visit in Mexico? What to go, where not to go, what to do, who to see, and why? If this describes the situation you find yourself in… there is help just a mouse click away. I am not going to tell you to look at the website VisitMexico.com, or have you book a vacation at Expedia.com.

Instead I just want to inform you about the newest website that discusses all things related the this wonderful country, and its unique Mexican culture. Mexicovacationtravels.com has become by far one of the MUST SEE websites when it comes to finding information about hotels, all inclusive packages, colonial cities, and even food from the colorful country of Mexico.

There you will find daily updates on just about any topic having to do with the country. If you want to know about Mexican history, weather, news, vacation spots, or just general facts… MVT is the place for you. If you want to know about Latin America in general you can always check out LANIC, but if your focus all things Mexico… trust me, you’ve gotta stop by MVT.

Inquiries as well as general tourism to Mexico have slightly dropped due to the swine flu scare that says it started in the country, but that shouldn’t stop you from learning about and possibly visiting some of the most beautiful places this planet has to offer and getting a really nice visit to some Mexico hotels. Whether you want to lay around the beach sipping a Corona, or swim in an unpolluted natural river… you can find it at a reasonable yet affordable price. Do yourself a favor and don’t let all the cons that you have heard about Mexico hold you back from an experience of a lifetime! Visit MVT today.

Swine Flu in Puerto Vallarta

Swine Flu in Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta Rentals

Puerto Vallarta Back to Normal

An order from the Governor of Jalisco, Emilio Gonz?lez M?rquez, reestablishes business as usual in Puerto Vallarta beginning 00:00 on Wednesday, May 13. All bars, clubs, movie theaters, etc, may resume business here. Schools will reopen May 18.

Linda Ellerbee on the media and Mexico

Sometimes I’ve been called a maverick because I don’t always agree with my
colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The
stream here is Mexico. You would have to be living on another planet to
avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it’s true drug wars
have escalated violence in Mexico , causing collateral damage, a phrase I
hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some
of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.

But that’s not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story. I’m a
journalist who lives in New York City, but has spent considerable time in
Mexico, specifically Puerto Vallarta, for the last four years. I’m in
Vallarta now. And despite what I’m getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour
news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New York
, possibly safer. I walk the
streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don’t live in
gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live in Mexico.
Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars
where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no more
precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don’t wave
money around, I don’t act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open, I’m
aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.

I’ve not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left
the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me,
did not slam the automatically-locking door on her way out. Sure enough,
less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar?
Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord? No, it was a local police officer, the
“beat cop” for our neighborhood,
who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including
me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening
closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even under beds, to be certain no
one else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart
and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see
that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to
use my common sense.

Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere,
but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans , and if there
are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same
is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a swell
neighborhood – house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on
the ground floor windows). There are good reasons thousands of people from
the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it’s not just the
lower cost of living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a
beautiful country, a special place. The climate varies, but is plentifully
mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved
unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear anyone
mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna’s attempt to adopt a
second African child, even though, with such a late start, she cannot
possibly begin to keep up with Anglelina
Jolie.

And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but- in general –
Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them,
they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet
you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you
as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot. I have had taxi drivers
track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had
someone run out of a store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty
cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a
day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death
and birth – and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a
woman – with the same joy. Too much of the noise you’re hearing about how
dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that – noise. But the media love
noise, and too many journalists currently making it don’t live here.

Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night,
standing near a spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to
some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV. Another thing. The
U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about
drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city where this is taking
place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, “Damn. Did
you know the U.S. is under water?” or reporting on the shootings at
Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying
that kids all over the U.S. are shooting their classmates and all the
grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has
mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the border. It is
real, but it does not describe an entire country. It would be nice if we
could put what’s going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and
emotionally.

It would be nice if we could remember that, as has been noted more than
once, these drug wars wouldn’t be going on if people in the United States
didn’t want the drugs, or if other people in the United States weren’t
selling Mexican drug lords the guns. Most of all, it would be nice if more
people in the United States actually came to this part of America ( Mexico
is also America , you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine place
Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be. So come
on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you’ll like it
here. Especially the people.

By Linda Ellerbee

#15th birthday #24-hour news networks #African child #After #All-Gringo neighborhood #Also #American #Anglelina Jolie #around #automatically-locking door #Back #bad things #bars #basic products #beat cop #beautiful #beautiful country #beds #big bad bowl #birth #bombing #border #Break #Britney Spears #buildings #burglar #cab #catch #Celebrate #cell phone #cents #cheap way #City #classmates #close #closets #collateral damage #colleagues #Columbine #come #Common #common sense #community #cons #considerable time #cost #country #course #Cross #Culture #dangerous Mexico #Dead #dead fish swim #death #Dia #did... #door #down #Drug lord #drug violence #drug war #drugs #end #entire country #especial #Even... #evening #Everything #eye #eyes #Federal building #Fine #fine place #fool #four #friend #Friendly #from #Full #General #Generalization #Getting #girl #going... #Good #good reasons #Greenwich Village #Gringo #Ground #ground floor windows #grownups #H.R. #Have #Having #hefty tax break #hell #home #house #house prices #idiot #imaginary country #important rite #Including #innocent people #is... #journalist #journalists #Katrina #Kidnapper #kids #Killer #kind #Know #late start #Len #Less #life #like #Linda Ellerbee #Lindsay Lohan #line #list #Live #lives #living #local #local police #local police officer #look #lords #Love #lower cost #Madonna #Make #many #maverick #Mexican #Mexican drug lords #Mexicans #MEXICO #Miss #money #Month #more #most #Much #Murder #murder rate #Neighborhood #neighbors #New Orleans #New York #New York City #News #Night #noise #Nothing #of... #Oklahoma City #Olla #Only #OPEN #over #Pan #Part #people #perspective #phone #phrase #place #Plan #planet #Police #precautions #prices #prostitution #Puerto #Puerto Vallarta #range #rate #Real #reason #Reasons #recent rise #recognition #remember #REPORT #Robber #Same #sands #se? #Second #selling Mexican drug #shootings #Side #Smart #Some #south #southern neighbors #Spanish #Special #special place #Specifically #Spot #spotlighted border #State #States #store #story #stranger #stream #street #streets #surroundings #swell neighborhood #talk #taxi drivers #that's #the... #Things #thousands #time #to... #tourist #tourists #True #true drug wars #TV. #U.S. #U.S. media #Ugly American #United States #unlatched door #USA #uses #Vacation #Vallarta #Vallarta neighborhood #very #Villa #village #violence #void #Walk #Walking #wallet #Warm #water #wave #way #woman #word #words #work #years #you.

Worst of H1N1 (swine flu) may be behind Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, health official says

he H1N1 (swine flu) peaked late last month in the Mexican State of Jalisco, Mexico?s Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said over the weekend.

Cordova made the announcement during a visit to Guadalajara on Saturday, May 9. He added that the total number of cases in Jalisco has risen from 26 to 31. He explained that a backlog of specimens waiting to be tested in Mexico City resulted in officials not being able to announce that there were any cases in Jalisco until May 6.

Guadalajara is the capital of Jalisco and is Mexico?s second-largest city, after Mexico City, which was hardest hit by the flu.

The coastal resort city, Puerto Vallarta, is also part of Jalisco. Most of Jalisco?s flu cases were from Guadalajara. Just two were from Puerto Vallarta, according to Pam Thompson of Puerto Vallarta Health Care Resources. For my previous post on the Puerto Vallarta cases along with a link to Pam’s updates in Banderas News, click here.

Swine Flu Map

Well it?s still to early to really know exactly what is happening in Mexico City and other cities where cases of swine flu in human beings has been reported but it?s not to early to start putting it on a Google map:

Thanks to a commenter I?ve been informed of another map that has been updated more recently:

Mexico corrects number of swine-flu deaths to seven

Mexico City – Mexican authorities corrected the number of people killed by swine flu to seven from a previous 20.

Miguel Angel Lezana, director of the national epidemiological and disease control centre, said late Tuesday that the mutated H1N1 swine-flu virus was confirmed to be responsible for seven deaths. The other 13 cases could not be confirmed yet, he said.

Mexican authorities previously put the swine-flu death toll at 20. Lezana said additional testing was conducted on recommendation of the the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).

At least 159 people have been killed by flu infections in Mexico, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said. On Tuesday, 1,311 people remained hospitalized out of a total of 2,498 suspected cases, he added.

An infection with the swine-flu virus was confirmed in 26 cases.

Mexico on Tuesday closed down main tourist sites across the country to try to limit the spread of the virus. Mexico City limited restaurants to takeout orders and deliveries and ordered gyms and pools closed.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s Central American neighbours called for help to battle the disease from the international community. At a meeting of Central American health officials in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, health ministers said in a letter to the WHO that the region lacked medication in case swine flu spreads.

Governments in Honduras and El Salvador raised their crisis levels while Costa Rica on Tuesday reported two suspected swine-flu cases. According to Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila, both of the infected patients had returned from Mexico.

Cuba cancelled all flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours.

Despite the potential health crisis, about 14,000 doctors in the Dominican Republic embarked on a four-day strike Tuesday, demanding their pay be more than doubled to about 1,600 dollars per month.

Emergencies and possible swine-flu cases are to be exempt from the strike.

Swine Flu Update as of April 27th, 2009 at 4:00pm

The following blog entry is from Pamela Thompson who is a registered nurse who has lived in Puerto Vallarta for over 17 years, 10 of them in health care. Pamela now leads Health Care Resources Puerto Vallarta, a local health care resource network.

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I have just spoken to Dr. Luis Suarez, infectious disease physician in Puerto Vallarta.

He reports that:


1. There are no confirmed cases in the state of Jalisco. 160 samples were taken and all were negative for Swine Flu.

2. There are no confirmed cases in the state of Nayarit.

3. Continue with precautionary measures including good hand washing, avoiding crowds, increase Vitamins B, K, A & D. Good ventilation in homes allowing the sun to enter.

4. Avoid hand-shaking, kissing.

5. He feels it is coming under good control in Mexico City.

Posted by Jeff Puerto Vallarta Rentals

The P.E.A.C.E race in Puerto Vallarta

This Sunday, April 26th should be dedicated to the P.E.A.C.E race. P.E.A.C.E (Protection, Education, Animals, Culture, and Environment) is a non profit organization in Banderas Bay that endeavors to offer free community service programs and English classes for children and adults. This event is less of a competition and more of a fun ride through the streets of Puerto Vallarta. There are three different levels for participants; beginners, intermediate and advanced. Participants will have to bring mountain bikes with sturdy tires as they will have to drive through a lot of dirt and gravel. The race will begin from La Desembocada and end there as well. The town lies 15 kilometers away from Puerto Vallarta on Las Palmas highway. You can walk in and register for the race at 8:00 am. You will have to give a picture to enter the race. Other than that you can purchase a raffle ticker for a bike gear for $50 pesos only. And Pedal for PEACE T-shirt costs only $200 pesos. You will be handed a map that will indicate the route very clearly for you. Other than that, the paths too will be marked, so you need not worry about losing your path.

This entire week was celebrated with multicolored lights. Showmen and manufacturers of fireworks displayed their best pieces. Starting from the 20th of April, a number of tourists and residents poured in at the Agustin Flores Contreras Sports Stadium. The Aquiles Serdan Amphitheatre later showed a 45 minutes show and the three Pyro ? musical Towers that represented the traditional fireworks of Puerto Vallarta. On 21st Tuesday, a daylight display was held at the Sports Stadium where 40 members showcased their best pieces and a number of guests attended the show. Friday 24th April will wrap up the final display of fireworks in Puerto Vallarta. The evening showcase is scheduled for 8 pm. Later the closing event will be held in Westin Regina. The fireworks will be launched from a boat that will float on the Banderas Bay. This will be a private show and only the famous manufacturers will get a chance to be there. However, you can enjoy a free show from any beach on Banderas Bay.

Get information on rental properties in Puerto Vallarta, also abbreviated as PV, contact Puerto Vallarta Rentals at: 612-424-5445 For more details visit www.puerto-vallarta-rentals.com which has been successfully servicing the tourists & local community for the past ten years.

#45 minutes #adults #Agustin Flores Contreras #Also #Animals #April #Aquiles Serdan Amphitheatre #Banderas #Banderas Bay #bay #Beach #Been #beginners #Best #best pieces #Bike #bike gear #Boat #boca #case #chance #children #classes #color #community #community service programs #competition #contact #contact Puerto Vallarta #Contreras #Culture #daylight #daylight display #details #Dia #different levels #dirt #display #Education #embers #end #English #English classes #Enjoy #Environment #Even... #evening #evening showcase #event #fact #Famous #famous manufacturers #FINAL #final display #fireworks #Flor #Flores #Free #Friday #from #from puerto vallarta #Full #fun #fun ride #gear #give #gravel #Guest #guests #Have #highway #in... #information #kilometers #La Desembocada #Las Palmas highway #Less #level #levels #local #local community #Los... #map #mark #Más #members #more #mountain #mountain bikes #multicolored lights #Music #musical Towers #Need #non profit organization #number #of... #Only #organization #P.E.A.C.E race #Palm #Palmas #Pan #Part #participants #past #paths #peace #PEACE T-shirt #Pedal #pesos #picture #piece #pm #program #programs #properties #Protection #Puerto #Puerto Vallarta #Puerto Vallarta rentals #PV #Pyro #raffle ticker #Regina #Rental #rental properties #Rentals #residents #Ride #Route #Service #show #Showcase #Showmen #Side #Sports #Sports Stadium #street #streets #sturdy tires #Sunday #three #to... #tourist #tourists #Town #Traditional #traditional fireworks #Vallarta #Vallarta rentals #very #Visit #Walk #way #Week #Westin #Westin Regina #work #Wrap #years #you.

Is It Safe to Go to Mexico?

Teresa Bitler thought about spending Easter this year lounging on the beach in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, with her husband and two daughters. Then she changed her mind.

“We heard about the drug violence down there,” says Ms. Bitler, who lives near Phoenix. She envisioned the 4?-hour drive, much of it through vast stretches of empty Mexican desert. Instead, the family is going to Disneyland this weekend.

Just a few months ago, American travel to Mexico was booming. Despite the economic downturn in the U.S., Mexico reported a 14% increase in visitors in January over the previous year, spurred by a strong U.S. dollar against the Mexican peso and a wave of American tourists who wanted to stay close to home. Eighty million Americans visited Mexico last year alone, according to the Mexico Tourism Board, making tourism a $13.2 billion industry, and Mexico’s third-highest revenue stream.

Mexico

Associated Press A tourist police officer patrols a beach in Playas de Rosarito on March 30.

By February, news was breaking daily about growing grisly violence between warring factions of Mexico’s drug cartels. Beheadings, kidnappings and torture dominated headlines. The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Mexico in late February, updating one issued in October, citing “increased violence near the U.S. border” and cautioning that “dozens” of Americans have been kidnapped across Mexico in recent years. George J. Tenet, the former Central Intelligence Agency director, urged his college-age son to cancel a spring-break trip to Acapulco, based on news reports he’d read; an exaggerated email about the exchange quickly made the rounds at college campuses.

All of this has many travelers wondering: Is Mexico still safe for tourists?

Despite the travel alert, “we are not advising people not to go to Mexico,” says Heide Bronke Fulton, a State Department spokeswoman. She adds that the main areas of concern are cities and towns near the U.S. border. Travel alerts, which can caution against everything from cyclone season to terrorism threats, are far less severe than the State Department’s “warnings,” in place for countries like Iraq and Sudan, which essentially advise against traveling to a country altogether.

Mexico

Mexico Tourism Board Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of Baja California.

Security experts say tourists can safely travel to Mexico — if they stay within known resort areas, avoid traveling to Mexico by road and steer clear of U.S. border areas. Mike Ackerman, president of the Ackerman Group, an investigative security firm, says most of the drug-trade crime within Mexico is “narco on narco” violence or violence against police. Kidnapping, another growing problem in Mexico, almost always targets wealthy Mexicans, not Americans or other foreigners.

To counteract rising fears about travel south of the border, Mexico’s tourism industry has gone on a public-relations offensive. Hotels are offering discounts. Resort areas have beefed up security. They’re trying to spread a key message: Mexico is a large, diverse country, and not every area has been affected by the increase in drug violence. Most of the tourist and resort areas are separated by hundreds of miles from the volatile battlegrounds of the drug war. Staying away from Puerto Vallarta because of what’s going on in Ciudad Ju?rez would be like not traveling to Nebraska because of something happening in New York City, tourism officials say.

Still, resorts as far as 1,300 miles away from the core of Mexico’s drug violence say they immediately saw a wave of cancellations after the travel alert was issued. At other hotels, new bookings simply stopped rolling in. Travel agents say they began fielding phone calls from concerned clients wanting to know if they should cancel their vacation.

Mexico

Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images The bay of Acapulco, the city that ex-CIA director George J. Tenet urged his son to avoid.

Jim Swickard, owner of the Hacienda de los Santos in Alamos, a resort town in the Sonora region, in western Mexico, says that after the U.S. issued the fall travel alert, January bookings at the luxury resort dropped by nearly 50% from a year earlier. He says that if business continues this way, he’ll have to cut his staff of 55 down to 25 by summertime.

Mr. Swickard, whose resort is nearly 400 miles from Nogales, says he has never had an incident of violence or kidnapping with a tourist staying at his resort, or driving from the U.S. en route to the resort. “We don’t have a drug war going on in Alamos,” he says.

Last month, Mexico’s Tourism Board launched a new Web site, Mexico-Update.com, which has video testimonials from travelers who have visited Mexico recently and a map meant to clarify which areas were included in the U.S. government’s travel alert. Areas with red “alert” dots include Tijuana, Ciudad Ju?rez, Nogales and Chihuahua, all cities in the northwest part of the country that are near the U.S. border.

Karisma Hotels, which has seven properties in Mexico, has seen business decline by 20% since the the travel alert. Now the company is offering upgrades for guests staying four nights or more at resorts like Azul Beach Hotel and El Dorado Royale in Riviera Maya, as well as promotions for free or discounted airfare. Pueblo Bonito Luxury Hotels & Resorts, which has four hotels in Los Cabos, is offering a fourth night free for every three nights booked, and the seventh night free for every six nights.

[Mexico] The Image Bank/Getty Images

Paper flags in front of Parochia Church, San Miguel de Allende

The drug trade has affected some tourist destinations. Canc?n, a city that’s also seen a real-estate boom, is smack in the middle of a major drug route to the U.S. Drug cartels, battling for control, have infiltrated the local police and killed a number of security officials, including a retired army general. As a result, the Mexican army has taken over most policing duties. But tourists have been unaffected by the gangland violence.

Many resorts and destinations have stepped up security. For the first time, visitors to the Canc?n area over spring break were met with more military checkpoints along the road from the airport to the resorts. New this year in the Los Cabos area are “tourist police,” who are dressed more casually than regular police officers and there to help visitors with directions or translations. They’re also accompanied by drug-sniffing dogs at certain times of day, says Miroslava Bautista, the area’s tourism director.

Some resorts say visibly increasing security can make tourists more nervous. Visitors “see more security and police and they feel afraid,” says Alan Duggan, the vice president of sales for Starwood Hotels, Latin America, “especially if you don’t need” the security. Resorts like the St. Regis in Punta Mita and the Westin Puerto Vallarta saw bookings drop by about 15% after the travel advisory, he says, while urban business travel hotels in areas like Mexico City didn’t see much of a drop-off, despite reports of increased crime in those areas.

Mexico tourism took a hit during spring-break season last month, when several universities advised students against going to Mexico. In February, Carol Thompson, the dean of students at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, sent an email to students with a link to the government’s travel alert and a note “strongly advis[ing] students to avoid travel to Mexico.”

Natalia Vargas, a senior at Ohio State University, had planned to travel to Puerto Vallarta this year for spring break with her roommates, booking flights and hotel rooms in January. Two weeks before they were set to hit the beach, Ms. Vargas and her friends heard from their parents that they no longer felt comfortable letting their children make the trip.

After some debate, Ms. Vargas and her friends decided to spend spring break in Florida instead.

Though the U.S. government says its records aren’t comprehensive, the leading cause of unnatural death in Mexico for an American tourist — by far — is car accident, according to State Department data. In 2008, 56 of the 81 million American citizens who visited or lived in Mexico were victims of homicide, up from 35 homicides the previous year. An estimated 6,000 people were killed in Mexico’s drug trade last year.

Mexico

Mauritius/Photolibrary Playa del Carmen on Mexico’s Mayan Riviera.

The increased violence has scared off some business travelers, as well as tourists. Steve Rudner, a lawyer who represents resorts, says since late February he’s taken on several cases against corporate groups who have canceled their meetings in Mexico and are trying to get out of having to pay, citing safety concerns.

Adam Armbruster, a broadcast-management consultant from Sarasota, Fla., agreed in January to give a keynote address at a May conference in Mexico City. Then he became nervous after reading news reports about increasing violence and kidnappings, though he’s been to Mexico City in the past. After considering hiring a personal security guard, he decided that “it wasn’t worth it,” he says, canceling and giving up his five-figure speaking fee. “I’ve got a wife and kids at home.”

Though statistically a tourist’s chances of becoming a crime victim are very slim in Mexico, those who have been say dealing with local authorities can prove frustrating. K. Jill Rigby, a travel editor from Toronto spending four months in San Miguel de Allende, a colonial-era city known as a haven for expats and artists, was mugged in February in an attack that left her on crutches for two weeks.

She doesn’t think her mugging was related to the drug trade. Instead, she cites another concern in the country: the growing gap between wealthy and poor residents in tourist areas like hers. Increasingly, young, unemployed Mexicans are returning home from the U.S. because they can no longer find work during the economic downturn. She says that reporting the crime was onerous, and that although there were several witnesses, her attackers still haven’t been apprehended by local police. District Attorney Jose Antonio Aguilera declined to comment, saying he wasn’t allowed to discuss criminal cases by telephone.

Tijuana, a border city once popular with U.S. day trippers who came to buy trinkets or drink in local bars, is one of the areas at the center of the drug trade. Several hundred people were killed there last year in drug-related violence, some of them shot on the street during the day. Visitors have been declining steadily, and more than 20% of businesses in the tourist district have closed, according to Jahdiel Vargas, the director of Tijuana’s Convention and Visitors Bureau.

[Mexico Map] Joe LeMonnier

Now the city is trying to win back tourists. In January, Tijuana opened a “fast lane” for visitors staying in hotels or eating in high-end restaurants to avoid long lines while crossing the border. In March, the city launched a new tourism campaign, 120 Things to Do in Tijuana, for Tijuana’s 120th anniversary. “It was pretty violent for a couple months there,” says Mr. Vargas. “But 90% of that was just focused on the mob or the drug cartels.”

Many travelers haven’t canceled their Mexico travel plans, especially those visiting established resort areas of Mexico. Stacy Small, a Brentwood, Calif.-based travel agent, recently returned from Ixtapa and Los Cabos, where she says “there wasn’t any evidence of problems.” Out of more than a dozen clients she’s booked into the area, she says, several have called to ask her about safety, but so far only one has ended up changing plans.

Last week, Mike and Ann McGibbon stayed at the Azul Sensatori Hotel in Riviera Maya, about 1,300 miles from Chihuahua, with their 10-year-old daughter. The family has traveled to the area before, and the only change in their plans this time was that they didn’t “dilly dally at the airport” in Canc?n, says Mr. McGibbon, a health-care company general manager from Libertyville, Ill. They spent their days walking along the beach, swimming and reading by the pool. “At no point did I feel unsafe,” says Mrs. McGibbon.

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