Hook - 11-19-2006 at 04:07 PM
Drug wars and political unrest deter Americans and others from day trips and resort vacations in Mexico, costing the country more than $200 million
this year.
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Lounging poolside at her hotel on the Pacific Ocean, Donna Littleton recounted the highlights of her vacation: cliff divers, an air show, jewelry
shopping and a tasty buffet.
But one element clouded her sunny mood: the memory of police with automatic weapons patrolling the beach.
"It makes you feel uneasy," said the 48-year-old Georgia resident. "I doubt that we'll be back."
Drug wars and political unrest are taking a toll on Mexico's tourism industry, one of the nation's biggest employers and revenue earners. The number
of international visitors to Mexico in the first nine months of the year fell by nearly 4 million, or 5.1%, from the same period last year, according
to the latest government figures.
The drop has cost Mexico more than $200 million in tourism revenue this year, most of that from Americans, who make up the vast majority of foreign
visitors.
The U.S. State Department put out a bulletin in September cautioning U.S. travelers to be aware of "the rising level of brutal violence" along
Mexico's northern border.
That alert was followed by an October announcement urging Americans to avoid the southern tourist magnet of Oaxaca. The city has been racked by nearly
six months of civil unrest that has killed at least 10 people, including an American freelance journalist. The State Department last week expanded the
scope of that bulletin, calling on Americans to "be alert to increased security concerns related to protest violence throughout Mexico" after
explosives damaged three buildings in Mexico City in early November in attacks that may have been related to events in Oaxaca.
The biggest decline in foreign visitors — more than 2.7 million — has been among day-trippers to northern Mexico. Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo have been
convulsed by a spasm of kidnappings and narcotics-related murders this year, spooking Americans who used to zip across the border in search of
souvenirs, discount medications or a spicy meal. Their trepidation is hurting Mexican merchants who depend on their spending.
"We are barely holding on," said Pablo Jacobo "Jack" Suneson, owner of Marti's, an upscale boutique in Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas. He
said scores of businesses had been shuttered in the Mexican border town, where more than 160 people have been murdered this year.
The migration of dollars is prompting Suneson to build a store in San Antonio so that his American clients don't have to cross the border.
Some operators are lowering their rates to lure visitors to Mexico.
Littleton and her husband, Gary, got a weeklong vacation package to Acapulco that included airfare, luxury hotel, meals and other extras for $1,200
each.
They were accompanied by their friends Royce and Nancy Duncan. It was Royce, an Atlanta-area accountant, who found the deal on the Internet and
persuaded the Littletons to go along.
Nancy, a librarian, said she was pleased with the bargain price on the nonrefundable package. That is, until she went online and started reading the
crime coverage.
"I was not happy," she said, relaxing in the shade in Acapulco. "But it was too late to change our minds."
Her husband, who ended the trip with a digestive ailment, vowed that they wouldn't return anytime soon.
"There are just too many nice places to visit without the seemingly inherent risks of Mexico," he said by e-mail.
Fear of violence isn't the only factor depressing Mexico's tourist trade. The resorts of Cancun and the Riviera Maya, which are the country's top
international tourist draw, spent the first part of 2006 rebuilding from Hurricane Wilma. That reduced the number of cruise passengers going ashore
this year. Tens of thousands of air travelers skipped Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula for other warm-weather destinations.
"The only thing missing is the tourists," said Juan Carrillo Padilla, president of Cancun's Chamber of Commerce, who said that virtually all of the
city's 27,000 hotel rooms were back in service.
Getting them filled is crucial for Mexico because the region accounted for nearly 40% of the $11.8 billion that foreign visitors spent here in 2005.
Domestic and international tourism pumps $60 billion into the Mexican economy and employs 1.8 million people, according to government estimates.
It can take a few years for a destination to regain favor with travelers once it has fallen off their radar, some travel agents said. Chris DeRose,
president of Villa Park-based First Travel of California, recently traveled to Cancun to gauge the recovery. She said the hotels she visited had been
beautifully restored and that the stretches of beach she saw had borne no remnants of the powerful storm that devoured Cancun's sugary sand in October
2005.
Still, she said, Mexico is proving to be a tougher sell than in the past, in part because other Caribbean destinations are cheaper, but also because
of resentment over illegal immigration.
Her clients, she said, "are just getting irritated with it all and have told me, 'I don't feel like going to Mexico.' "
Foreign no-shows aren't the only concern. Mexico's domestic travelers have stayed at home in greater numbers in 2006. Some hoteliers blamed a poor
summer season on June's World Cup soccer tournament, which kept fanatics glued to televisions. Then came July's presidential elections. The contest
pitted leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador against conservative Felipe Calderon in a bitter slugfest whose outcome was uncertain for weeks until an
election tribunal upheld a slim victory for Calderon.
Supporters of Lopez Obrador seized Mexico City's historic center and blocked a main thoroughfare of the capital for six weeks to protest alleged vote
fraud. Their encampment along stately Paseo de la Reforma, a major tourist draw, was largely peaceful, but business travelers and sightseers stayed
away in droves. The protest cost local businesses nearly $750 million, according to some estimates.
Political tension has also scared tourists away from Oaxaca, the charming colonial capital of the state of Oaxaca. A May teachers strike and sit-in
has mushroomed into a larger protest movement by groups calling for the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz after a heavy-handed police crackdown on
strikers in June. The lengthy standoff and spiraling violence have all but snuffed out Oaxaca's visitor trade, the lifeblood of its economy.
"In the center of the city it's practically empty," said Eduardo Garcia Moreno, president of Oaxaca's Chamber of Commerce, who said scores of
businesses had closed and thousands of workers had lost their jobs. "This is much, much worse than Hurricane Wilma in Cancun."
In contrast, Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast looked vibrant on a recent holiday weekend, with many hotels full and the beaches packed with
merrymakers.
Still, tourism officials in Acapulco say the city is suffering from a wet summer, violence-filled headlines and under-investment by the Mexican
government. Federal statistics show a drop in the number of visitors in the first nine months of 2006 compared with the same period in 2005. Figures
compiled by Acapulco's own local tourist board show a slight gain to just over 4.5 million people.
Whatever the actual number, some of the city's hoteliers say 2006 has been nothing to write home about.
"It has been a tough year," said Christopher Payne, general director of the Hotel Emporio Acapulco, a 419-room luxury hotel. He said this year's
occupancy levels wouldn't match those of 2005.
Nestled on Acapulco Bay where the Sierra Madre mountains meet the sea, Acapulco boasts stunning topography and tropical weather year-round. Hollywood
jet-setters such as John Wayne and Cary Grant made it their playground in the 1950s and 60s. Elvis Presley immortalized it in the 1963 film "Fun in
Acapulco" when he sang: "This is no time for siesta, this is time for fun!"
But the venerable resort has lost much of its star power and is now mainly a weekend getaway for residents of Mexico City, about 200 miles away. Like
an aging B-list player, it could stand some nips and tucks.
The toll road from Mexico City is one the most poorly maintained and the most expensive in Mexico, costing nearly $100 round trip — a small fortune
here. Acapulco's main drag is potholed and choked with traffic. Raw sewage is making its way into the bay. Many of the hotels need updating.
The economic backbone of Guerrero, one of Mexico's poorest states, needs help modernizing its infrastructure, local authorities said. But they said
they felt abandoned by federal officials who have channeled most tourism development resources into government-sponsored destinations such as Cancun,
Ixtapa and Los Cabos.
"It isn't equitable," said Jesus Radilla Calderon, general manager of the Acapulco Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tourism veterans say they feel victimized by publicity about rising drug violence. A number of severed heads have surfaced in Acapulco this year, most
notably those of two policemen that were found with a note reading: "So that you learn to respect."
No tourists have been hurt in the bloodshed, which many here believe is entirely narcotics-related. But the hoteliers and restaurant owners say their
establishments are paying the price.
"Every time [a beheading] makes the front page, we get cancellations the next day," said Marco Martinez, director of leisure sales at the Fairmont
Acapulco Princess and Fairmont Pierre Marques hotels.
Tourism officials have implored law-enforcement authorities to get the violence under control to help them protect one of Mexico's most important
industries.
In the meantime, entrepreneurs are doing what they can to survive. Suneson said Nuevo Laredo recently did the tourism equivalent of making lemonade
out of lemons by capitalizing on its dangerous image. It hosted a gathering of the only big group it has been able to attract in recent years — a
rally of hundreds of leather-clad motorcyclists.
Said Suneson: "They like a challenge."
DENNIS - 11-19-2006 at 04:26 PM
This is all a bunch of BS if one believes that Americans will react to the dilema. We dont. We have no solidarity or compassion for other's
problems. We only go for the gusto which affects our own lives.
In other words, we are pathetic when unknown Americans are in trouble.
We only care for ourselves
That goes for our government as well.
Dont believe that?
Sit in a Mexican jail and see what the U.S. government will do for you.
rogerj1 - 11-19-2006 at 08:21 PM
I wonder how this is affecting the real estate market in Mexico? I've been getting extra solicitations from agents lately assuring me that the demand
for real estate is strong and the Mexican market is not being affected by the downturn in the US market. Anyone have any insights on this?
Diver - 11-19-2006 at 08:48 PM
There have been at least three people who posted on this board that they changed their annul Baja travel plans to go somewhere else in light of the
recent publicity.
I know of two almost retired couples who were planning to buy in sur and changed their minds in the past few months for the same reasons.
You betcha it will affect the real estate market if this continues.
Many americans are chickens; they CAN be scared by such things as beheadings.
.
[Edited on 11-20-2006 by Diver]
capn.sharky - 11-19-2006 at 09:42 PM
"assuring me that the demand for real estate is strong and the Mexican market is not being affected by the downturn in the US market. Anyone have any
insights on this? " I had this very discussion with a realty office in Loreto last week. I (and they) do think the downturn in the American market
is a big factor in the downturn of real estate sales in Loreto. After all, Baby Boomers, were selling their big homes here in the U.S. and buying
smaller, less expensive homes and using the difference to purchase a retirement place in Mexico and Costa Rica.
tigerdog - 11-25-2006 at 12:18 PM
I've been wondering if the bursting real estate bubble in the USA is affecting real estate sales in Mexico at all? An awful lot of people who were
using their equity as an ATM are now in trouble, and worst off of all are those who bought for investment, or flipping, at the top of the market and
now can't unload it. Anyone have any info on that?
Here's HOPING !
MrBillM - 11-25-2006 at 02:58 PM
I know I'm not alone in wishing that SOMETHING would slow down The Gringo Second-Home housing developments that are going up at a mad pace.
Personally, I keep rooting for a BIG recession, but the economy just keeps getting better.
Let's see thos BUBBLES BURST.
TMW - 11-27-2006 at 06:09 PM
Home prices are down 10-20%, some places more and some less. I think it's a stablized holding pattern. The market is waiting to see how everything
falls out. Unemployment is in the 4+% range. Housing interest rates right now are at a 10 month low at just over 6%. The Dems will control congress in
Jan. The bottom line right now is it's a buyers market and the savvy buyers will buy at the right price. Most are flippers and not those wanting to
invest in Mexico. Mexico has it's own set of problems starting with the new president coming in. My guess is that we'll see the next jump in housing
after the 2008 elections, but that may depend on whose elected. If the feds hold interest rates where they are it may happen sooner. If they raise
them it'll be a while.