Ferry blast injures passengers in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

02/21/2018 The Washington Post

Photo by Flickr user Jesus & Kristle

An explosion ripped through a ferry as it unloaded passengers in the Caribbean beach city of Playa del Carmen on Wednesday, hurting as many as 25 people, but authorities said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

Initial reports on the number of victims varied. The local municipal government and the port authority both reported that 18 were injured, including 15 Mexicans and three Canadians. Local Civil Defense director Juan Medina Sosa said there were 25 injured, including three Canadians and two Americans, and all were in good condition.

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Mexican village uses fireflies to halt deforestation by local logging industry

07/27/2016 The Guardian

In the village of Nanacamilpa, tiny fireflies are helping save the towering pine and fir trees on the outskirts of the megalopolis of Mexico City.

Thousands of them light up a magical spectacle at dusk in the old-growth forests on reserves such as the Piedra Canteada park, about 45 miles (75km) east ofMexico’s sprawling capital city.

Piedra Canteada in Tlaxcala state isn’t a government-run park, but a rural cooperative that has managed to emerge from poverty and dependence on logging with the help of the fireflies.

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Mexican official visits Arizona looking to strengthen ties between U.S. and Mexico

06/27/2016 KTAR News

Twitter Photo/ @edelamadrid

The relationship between Arizona and Mexico is moving in a positive direction, according to Mexico’s Minister of Tourism.

 

Enrique de la Madrid was in the United States last week and made a stop in Phoenix. He said two important keys to the relationship between Arizona and Mexico are trade and tourism. He also said trade between Arizona and Mexico generates about $16 billion a year, adding that Arizona’s $9 billion in exports to Mexico accounts for 40 percent of the state’s exports to the world.

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Mexico City Tops “52 Places to Go in 2016”

1/7/2016 The New York Times

It’s a big world out there, so we’ve narrowed it down for you. From ancient temples to crystalline waters, here are our top destinations to visit this year.

1. Mexico City, Mexico

When Pope Francis visits Mexico City in the spring, he will draw the faithful from around the country. The Mexican capital, though, is attracting pilgrims of another kind: travelers seeking some of the world’s best cuisine, museums and forward-thinking design. With young people from around Latin America and Spain streaming into the city, and the Mexican peso hitting record lows against the dollar, the city — daunting and endless as it is — radiates energy.

Certainly, there is no more exciting place to eat. Enrique Olvera, who reinvented Mexican cuisine at Pujol, has inspired a generation of restaurants in his wake, including Fonda Fina in La Roma and Fonda Mayora in nearby Condesa.

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Mexico’s Tourism Activity Rises 3.4 pct. in 2014

Fox News Latino, 2/17/2015

Mexico’s tourism activity expanded by 3.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014, compared to the same period in the previous year, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or INEGI, said Tuesday.

Spending by foreign and domestic tourists rose 2.8 percent in the July-September period, compared to the same period in 2013, the statistics agency said in a statement.

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Apparent Mass Murder Of 43 Students Hurts Mexico’s Tourism

11/17/14 NPR

The economy in the Mexican state of Guerrero, where 43 students were kidnapped and found dead, is hurting. Tourists have stopped coming to that state and others.

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Mexico: Violent Protests Hit Acapulco’s Tourism

11/12/14 New York Times 

Mexico’s president has tried to keep the issue of violence issue separate from his focus on the economy, but the two are converging as violent protests over 43 disappeared students squelch tourism in Acapulco just before a major holiday weekend. As Mexico prepares to commemorate its 1910 revolution Monday, hotels in the Pacific resort city have seen a wave of cancellations after demonstrators temporarily shut down the airport, blocked highways and attacked government and political offices in the southern state of Guerrero. Acapulco hotel occupancy rates are currently at 20 percent, well short of the 85 percent expected for this long weekend when Mexicans typically flock to the beaches, Joaquin Badillo, president of the Employers’ Association for Guerrero state, said Wednesday. More cancellations have been registered for Christmas week, the busiest time of the year for Acapulco tourism, and Badillo said one company that operates 10 hotels has cut about 200 temporary jobs in recent weeks.

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