Finally!!! A Zoned Travel Alert for Mexico from the US State Department

[CozumelAntonio]

Right before Spring Break 2009, the State Department posted a very general travel alert to Mexico, which many took as a general "don't go to Mexico", specially the media, and this caused severe economic damage to the economies of many resort destinations, which for the most part have no such issues.

Finally in it's latest travel alert for Mexico, the State Department has been very specific about the "trouble areas" and has properly labeled the safe areas as "No advisory is in effect". Better late than never, hopefully this will start chipping away at the "Mexico psychosis" that the earlier vague alerts helped fuel.

Travel Warning
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Mexico

Kudos to those who made this happen for being socially responsible.

 

[Ron Lee]

Hopefully the US CDC will do something similar and not issue a blanket hysteria alert like they did during the swine flu fiasco. My opinion is that the CDC alert was largely responsible for the economic problems during that period.

 

[Beyond_Diving]

It's about time!!

 

[Sue Sue]

What Cozumel Scubaboard members, tourists and residents, have been saying all along.....

This is a portion of the Advisory statement Per U.S. Department of State. However, please refer to the website for a full report.

Travel Warning
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs

Mexico

February 08, 2012

General Conditions:

Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including more than 150,000 who cross the border every day. The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations, and there is no evidence that Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have targeted U.S. visitors and residents based on their nationality. Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes.

Quintana Roo: Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya and Tulum are the major cities/travel destinations in Quintana Roo -see map (PDF, 286 kb) to identify their exact locations: No advisory is in effect.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Ok since the OP did not want to post the true definition of that see here:

Current Travel Warnings

Travel Warnings are issued when long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable lead the State Department to recommend that Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country. A Travel Warning is also issued when the U.S. Government's ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff.

YES a travel advisory under those terms is in effect for Mexico. Did that advisory cause severe economic damage to other areas? Maybe Maybe not......To TOTALLY blame it on that travel advisory is laughable. The whole world's economy has been bad and ALL travel related destinations have suffered. By all means it has NOTHING to do with the fact that less people have money to travel, or they are sick of so many cruiseship people, or the airfares are getting outrageous, or the fact that many drug stories are in the news, or that people are found beheaded in Cancun , etc.etc.etc. They were NOT avoiding all the tourist stops just because of that advisory. The only "Mexico psychosis" that is being suffered is by people who live in tourist destinations and think that the money flow will never slow down. When a place like Cozumel which derives probably 90% of it's income or more from tourists has a huge setback whose fault is it that people can't survive? Never thought it would slow down huh?

Oh BTW it does NOT say AVOID THE WHOLE COUNTRY. It says consider the risk of travel......to your destination.......

 

[Darol]

Ok, here we go again. From what I've seen lately, the biggest threat to any tourist locale is the airline industry.
I hope they can keep prices in check. Hey Antonio.....

 

[WSOPFAN]

Ok, here we go again. From what I've seen lately, the biggest threat to any tourist locale is the airline industry.
I hope they can keep prices in check. Hey Antonio.....

Exactly my point.......there are many other factors so to blame low tourism for all Mexico locations solely on a travel advisory is laughable.

 

[mstevens]

Ok since the OP did not want to post the true definition of that see here:

Oh BTW it does NOT say AVOID THE WHOLE COUNTRY. It says consider the risk of travel......to your destination.......

Go back and re-read the original post. The poster was praising the current alert as being fairly reasonable and contrasting it with one that was issued 3 years ago.

The current one is more specific and more measured. The one 3 years ago was very general and did not draw distinctions among safe and unsafe areas.

 

[BTravlin]

Exactly my point.......there are many other factors so to blame low tourism for all Mexico locations solely on a travel advisory is laughable.

Where does it say this?

The way I read it, they cite a poorly targeted travel advisory as a contributing factor to their economic doldrums.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Go back and re-read the original post. The poster was praising the current alert as being fairly reasonable and contrasting it with one that was issued 3 years ago.

The current one is more specific and more measured. The one 3 years ago was very general and did not draw distinctions among safe and unsafe areas.

What was not reasonable in the first place? The travel advisory states:

Travel Warnings are issued when long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable lead the State Department to recommend that Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country.

It says avoid or consider the risk to travel to a country. IN OTHER WORDS......use your brain and if a certain location in that country does look safe then determine that on your own and not just foolishly consider the advisory to mean it is totally off limits. There was nothing wrong with the way it was before but to be more specific they added where they do not have an advisory. Ok the flip side of that, just because they have no advisory means it is perfectly safe? Back to my original point, it is totally irrelevant they include areas that are not under advisory, you still need to use your own judgment period. It is very disingenuous for the OP to say:

Finally in it's latest travel alert for Mexico, the State Department has been very specific about the "trouble areas" and has properly labeled the safe areas as "No advisory is in effect"​

Properly labeled the safe areas? It does not say that anywhere............Telling tourists an area that has no advisory is perfectly safe is very disingenuous.

BTW it DOES say this:

Travelers should be mindful that even if no advisories are in effect for a given state, crime and violence can occur anywhere.

Exactly my point.........