We always get questioned about safety when traveling to Mexico. I think it is a valid question given the exposure this topic has gotten from the press. Let’s start by saying that Mexican Tourism from the U.S. has increased by 12% in 2016 for a total of over 12 million travelers from the U.S. visiting Mexico in 2016.
While there are dangerous places to visit in any country including the U.S. none of the Mexican tourist areas even make the top 10 most dangerous places to visit. In fact they rate lower than a number of places in the U.S. The drug cartel issues have calmed down since the election of the new President. Most of the activity is with the Sinaloa Cartel with the capture of El Chapo. This is basically a control issue within the Cartel itself with virtually no spillover to Mexican citizens or tourists. Some of the border towns still have some threats between cartel members but the closest border towns are about 1,500 miles from the nearest tourist destinations.
Last year the Zika virus was on everyone’s mind and while there is some concern for pregnant women and those women who intend to become pregnant in the near future, the majority of issues have been in rural areas of Mexico. The Tourist areas do everything they can to protect against mosquitoes and it has not been a problem in these areas. Due to the fact that mosquitoes know no borders we now have the Zika virus within the U.S. borders. The CDC has lowered the threat level for the Zika virus.
About 60% of our clients travel to Mexico because Mexico still gives you the best value for your dollar. This is because of the number of resorts in Mexico that are competing for the tourist dollar. They have to keep the costs down in order to compete.
I would say that travel to Mexico today is as safe or safer than most international and a lot of local destinations. We still tell our clients to use the same precautions and common sense they would when traveling anywhere.
