Texas Opposes Spring Break Travel To Mexico

By Author: Steve Robinson
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Although there remain cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages to Mexico, Texas has advised its residents for the third year in a row not to travel to Mexico during spring break. The reason given was concern about drug cartel violence and other criminal activities going on even in resort areas.

Texas’ advice is considered a major blow to Mexico’s economy. Tourism is Mexico’s second largest industry. Around 60 percent of Mexico’s tourists are American, with a third of them either Texans or travelers passing through Texas.

Mexico has advised that travel warnings should be limited to specific areas where the threat of violence is greatest. Mexican officials claim that popular tourist areas such as Cancun and Cabo San Lucas are safe for American visitors.

40,000 lives have been claimed by drug violence in Mexico since 2006. Although Texas acknowledges that the Mexican government has made “great strides in battling the cartels,” the “drug cartel violence and criminal activity represent a significant safety threat, even in some resort areas.”

American murders in Mexico increased ...
... to 120 in 2011 as compared to 35 in 2007.

The Mexico Tourism Board views Texas’ warning as “exceptionally aggressive,” claiming “To paint Mexico with such a massively broad brush stroke is simply outrageous.” Mexico claims that drug cartel violence is mainly found in isolated areas along the Rio Grande in northern Mexico, including the city of Juarez across from El Paso.

Mexico’s position is that its violence is not widespread and very few of its almost 27 million tourists in 2011 were victims of, or even witnessed, any type of violence.
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