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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California and Mexico enter into tourism agreement

09/16/14 The Desert Sun

Expect to see more cooperation among tourism officials in California and Mexico to grow cross-border travel. The state has signed a memorandum of understanding with Mexico to grow tourism between the two. Visit California, the state tourism organization, launched a $1 million marketing campaign this spring in Mexico to drive summer bookings, including Visit California’s first broadcast advertising in Mexico inviting consumers to “come to California and dream big too.” Visit California anticipates that air arrivals from Mexico to California will increase by 19 percent from 2013 to 2016.

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Mexico City offers visitors eclectic experiences

The Desert Sun, 5/8/14

With all due respect, if your experience south of the border has been limited to Tijuana, Cabo San Lucas, and Puerto Vallarta, you’re missing out. Yes, with its 21.2 million denizens perched at an altitude of 7,943 feet, la Ciudad de México is mucho to bite off. But the taste it will leave in your mouth, the enchantments it will bring to your other four senses, are certain to utterly reward your intrepidness.

This cosmopolitan metropolis — which began as Old Tenochtitlan, the fabled capital of the Aztec Empire that ceded to the Spaniards in 1521 before being reborn with Mexico’s 19th century independence — offers first-time visitors an intoxicating amalgam of the pre-Hispanic, the colonial, and the modern, exceeding every expectation and demanding frequent returns.

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Juárez opens US office to lure tourists back to Mexico

WFAA Border Bureau, 3/16/14

As tourism rebounds in Mexico, border cities are trying to attract visitors again. Ciudad Juárez is leading the way with the opening of the first visitor information center on the Texas side of the border. “That’s the message to get across to the U.S.: We’re alive and well, and you can have fun, do business and it will be good,” said Jose Arturo Ramos, executive in charge of projects with the Ciudad Juárez municipal government.

He said “Come back” is the message Juárez wants to send to tourists who crowd the El Paso Saddleblanket Company to buy Southwest souvenirs and gifts. The Juárez visitor center opened inside the mega store during spring break. The Juárez visitor center will provide information on local attractions, restaurants and shops, and plans to offer vans to shuttle people across the border starting this summer.

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As Crime Drops, Americans Begin To Return To Mexico’s Baja

Fox Latino News, 11/30/2013

Once centered on timeshares and rowdy bars largely frequented by Americans and Canadians, northern Baja California’s tourism industry is rebounding with the exploding fame of local chefs, the expansion of boutique hotels and a burgeoning art scene creating a buzz in travel magazines.

This year, foreigners made up more than 45 percent of all visitors, after dropping to a low of less than 25 percent when cartels unleashed unprecedented bloodshed, leaving beheaded bodies on Tijuana’s streets. Sport fishing licenses — which are almost exclusively sought by Americans — have increased more than 75 percent during that time, according to Baja California’s tourism department.

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