Mexico: Tourism is Actually Up!

My Mom saved an article for me that she read in the Los Angeles Daily News December 24, reporting that although Mexico is suffering its bloodiest year of drug violence yet, vacationers are flocking more than ever to Cancun and other Mexico resorts. The article (http://www.dailynews.com/ci_16930529) states that holiday travel to Mexico from the U.S. is up from a year ago, and that revenue from tourism increased 7.1% the first 10 months of 2010 compared with the same ten months in 2009. Mexico’s president of the National Tourism Confederation assures would-be travelers to Mexico what my friends and I have known all along: that safety is a problem in only a very small percentage of the country, such as some border towns like Juarez and Tijuana. The Mexican Tourism Ministry retorted to holiday travel warnings by the Texas Department of Public Safety that anyone considering vacationing in Mexico talk with any of the millions of Americans, Canadians, and other foreign nationals who have safely and happily traveled to Mexico.

This is good news for my friends and me, who’ve watched many of our favorite San Felipe stores and restaurants close over the past few years and witnessed the increased hardship of many San Felipe families, since Mexico has no welfare system. We donate regularly to the San Felipe Food Bank to help feed the many families dependent on tourism who’ve suffered due to the poor economy and the lies by U.S. media and the U.S. State Department that Mexico is a dangerous place.

As a follow-up to my earlier blog, “Safe in San Felipe,” I would like to remind friends and blog readers who wring their hands or tell me “Watch your head!” when I tell them yes, I still live most of the year in Mexico, that most of Mexico is safe, very safe, particularly compared with most of the U.S.

Let’s put the statistics in perspective:
1) From May to November 2010, a period of only six months, there were 17,950 violent crimes reported in Los Angeles County. (http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/violent-crime/neighborhood/list/). This works out to an average of 25.4 violent crimes per 100,000 people in L.A., compared with 17 per 100,000 people for Mexico. But if you remove the drug-related murders in Mexico, the rate decreases significantly. (http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-california-travel/mexico-travel-warning.htm).

2) Tijuana is one of the more dangerous Mexican cities but would be ranked in the lower third of large U.S. cities in terms of violent crime. Philadelphia, about the same size as Tijuana, has roughly the same crime statistics. New Orleans, the most dangerous city in the US, is about 3 times more dangerous than Tijuana. (http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-california-travel/mexico-travel-warning.htm.)

3) I occasionally hear or receive email stories from American friends and colleagues about violent crimes in Mexico. But the stories are always third-hand, such as “my niece’s boyfriend’s dad” or “my cousin’s wife’s brother.” However, I’ve heard plenty of first-hand stories of violence in the U.S., including that of my sister and nephew, who were nearly killed by crackheads that broke into their home in San Francisco. I’m not claiming the Mexican stories of violence aren’t true, but it’s more than curious that after living part-time in Baja, and travelling to and from my Home here for 8 years, I’ve NEVER heard any such stories from Baja friends, some of whom have lived here for over 30 years!

Like me, my many wonderful Baja friends are in love with San Felipe and its beautiful unspoiled beaches, its colorful mountains and deserts and the glorious sunrises over the Sea of Cortez. We spend as little time as we need to in the U.S. and immerse ourselves as much as we can in the Mexican culture, such as the San Felipe Christmas Parade, which was far more simple, but also more joyful and heartwarming, than any U.S. parade I've witnessed. We take Spanish classes, befriend the locals and support their stores and restaurants. We thumb our noses at the U.S. media’s hype about the violence, make no changes in our travel plans other than for holiday traffic, have safe drives across the border and thoroughly enjoy our lives here.

But some Americans who own houses near me are spending less time here, claiming that “all the violence” frightens them. One is so persnickety he won’t eat in any of the local restaurants. Another angrily claimed he was going to sell his house after being stopped and asked to pay for a minor traffic violation in Mexicali, despite many uneventful trips to his Baja home for years. Most of these folks make no attempt to learn Spanish or interact with the locals, and they take a derogatory view of the Mexican people. I wonder if their hearts are even open to the peace and beauty of the area and its inhabitants. Fine by my friends and me that they keep themselves and their sorry attitudes north of the border!