 Mexico Travel Getting a Bad Rap |
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| Mexico travel is getting a bad rap right now for a multitude of reasons and much of it isn't warranted. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Francesca01 Francesca Ariano Post Count: 1 Msg: #1 52 days ago, September 29th 2009 | I feel it is important for me to write a little about what I feel to be an unfair treatment about Mexico in the news. | Tourism is the 3rd largest part of our economy, and many people depend on tourism and foreign investment. Recently, Mexico has suffered a trifecta of bad press resulting in a huge drop in tourism revenue. I would like to address these issues one by one, separate the facts from the myths and hopefully inspire some people to travel south. First - The swine flu. Let's be clear about this. It's the flu, nothing more. This may be a shock to some people, but over 100,000 people die every year from the flu (mostly in tropical climates) Maybe it sounds scary, but putting a name like 'swine' in front of 'flu' doesn't make it any more dangerous than your normal flu. If you are considering not traveling to Mexico because of this, just think - would you cancel a trip to Europe because you heard people were getting the flu? It sounds exotic, it sounds scary (which is why the media picked up on it) but it's all hype. Second - The drug related violence. This is a bigger problem, and one that Mexico will have to address in a serious way very soon. However, if you watch the news you are left with the impression that the whole country is erupting in uncontrollable violence. This is not true either. The violence is segregated to isolated areas (like the border towns) and in no way are tourists or foreigners being targeted. On the contrary, the tourist destinations have so far resisted the influence of the cartels because of the availability of legitimate jobs. Typically the drug trade takes root where economic conditions are depressed and people are forced to deal in contraband. Third - the economic downturn/crisis. This was unavoidable, at least from Mexico's standpoint. Naturally tourism will become depressed in a recession and many people who would have otherwise traveled to Mexico now cannot afford to. Nevertheless, this has had 2 positive affects for people now considering going south. Hotels are running at very low occupancy rates, so they are desperate for clients. Many hotels are running specials, just call and see what they can do for you. Also, the historically strong Peso has devalued 30% from it's high last August - which means 30% off everything in the country. <snip> [Edited: 14:58 - Mell - No promotions please. ]  Mell Mell Post Count: 13894 Msg: #2 51 days ago, September 30th 2009 | Hello Francesca |   I feel it is important for me to write a little about what I feel to be an unfair treatment about Mexico in the news.  What happens is what gets reported in the news(by reputable news bodies at least). I dont think Mexico should take it personally. Mel sophiebeach Sophie de Lagarde Post Count: 2 Msg: #3 47 days ago, October 5th 2009 | Thank you Francesca, I love it, we really need it down here ! | <snip> [Edited: 04:24 - Rat on the Road - No advertising on forums please] mexicotravelblog com chase buckner Post Count: 3 Msg: #4 30 days ago, October 22nd 2009 | I totally agree. The US media is crushing a lot of family businesses for no reason. I actually just did an article about it at http://travelmexicoblog.com/?p=49. | Mell Mell Post Count: 13894 Msg: #5 30 days ago, October 22nd 2009 | Hello Chase |  I think it may be an exaggeration to say Mexico is perfectly safe. The US media are not the only ones reporting about drugs cartels, shootings..... Though, I dont think Mexico is dangerous enough to avoid. But, no matter how many reports come out about something, there are always people who deny that there is anything happening...... Mel mexicotravelblog com chase buckner Post Count: 3 Msg: #6 30 days ago, October 22nd 2009 | Agreed, and I am in no way saying (as acknowledged in the article) that these things are not happening, but, instead, that it is crucial to look at where they are happening (in terms of shootings) and the actual dangers, statistically (when it comes to swine flu), before publishing broad, and scary, travel warnings. | Mell Mell Post Count: 13894 Msg: #7 30 days ago, October 22nd 2009 | ...and scary, travel warnings. Warnings about death and disease are always going to be scary. We do have a right to know about these things though. ...where they are happening ...The news reports do say where in Mexico the incidents have happened. I think, in the interest of a patriotic or nationalist defense of a country, some would like to insist/demand that all news articles end with, ''this is happening in every country''. But, the reality is that some things are happening more and sometimes a lot more in some countries than others. If a news body did not give out the reports or stated that these things happen in all countries to the same level, I for one would not trust their information, because it would simply be unrealistic. [Edited: 08:19 - Mell ] mexicotravelblog com chase buckner Post Count: 3 Msg: #8 29 days ago, October 22nd 2009 | Again, addressed in the article. Obviously, we need news. But, prime example, two canadians were just murdered in Vallarta. The media jumped all over it leaving many very frightened. The reality of the situation was that they were heavily involved in trafficking cocaine to Canada. Yes, you can randomly get killed anywhere. Is it important to know that two people were murdered - of course. Is it also important to know that they were murdered because they were involved in the illegal drug trade - of course. Does the media fill everyone in on that detail - maybe a few local newspapers, but definitely not Fox news. | Mell Mell Post Count: 13894 Msg: #9 29 days ago, October 22nd 2009 | I dont think the international media is picking on Mexico. Why would they? | Number of Users: 4 | Number of Posts: 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
