The Secretary of Travel for Mexico, one Enrique de la Madrid, was recently interviewed by the editor of Travel Weekly and expressed considerable upset at the various “advisories” (warnings) published by our U.S. State Department about travel to different parts of Mexico.
Every time, he said, that there is an outbreak of violence in or near a city of Mexico, our U.S. State Department quickly issues an advisory warning against travel to that location. The normal tourist, Mr. de la Madrid went on, is not endangered in the slightest by those developments.
And yet tourism virtually ceases to that place. For example, he went on, an isolated gang shooting near Playa del Carmen has badly affected tourism to Playa del Carmen and even nearby Cancún.
He then proposed a somewhat humorous test.
Suppose, he said, that Mexico were to issue advisories against travel to various troubled spots of North America. Our entire nation, he went on, would be judged as too dangerous to visit.
Such an advisory against travel to the U.S. would be based on the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, the school shootings in California and Maryland, the placing of bombs in boxes delivered to addresses in Austin, Texas, the mowing down of tourists by a vehicle careening along bicycle paths in New York City.
If each of those were to be the subject of a Mexican advisory, hardly any Mexican would travel to the U.S. Yet we all know, he concluded, that travel in the U.S. is entirely safe for all ordinary purposes. Nevertheless, Mexican travel would sharply decline.
Surely there is a sensible message in these ruminations of a Mexican government official. It is possible that our U.S. State department is too eager to issue stern warnings against travel to certain Mexican cities.
Are we all too arrogant about the question of whether there is any real risk to tourists from the occasional outbreaks in Mexico? Can we all continue to travel safely to such places as Cancún, Cabo San Lucas, Tulum, San Miguel, Puerto Vallarta?
Pictured above: Puerto Vallarta
Pictured above: Puerto Vallarta
