Mexico destinations react to warnings: not here

Some Mexican destinations have fought back US travel warnings in a simple way: they have said they are not included in the US State Department advisories. One of these is Puerto Vallarta.
 

“While it is true that Mexico’s state of Jalisco has had recent incidents of violence in the cities of Colotlan, and Yahualica, Puerto Vallarta is located more than 300 miles away from these cities,” officials said. That is the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
 

The popular vacation destination is also located more than 1,200 miles from the border between Mexico and the US where other drug related violence has taken place, the same distance that separates Los Angeles to Dallas, or New York to Miami, tourist officials say.
 

Tourism officials often cite distances between Mexican cities as critical points in any safety evaluation.

They say it is also important to note that although the U.S. Department of State is advising against non-essential travel to specific areas in Mexico, it also explicitly mentions that “millions of US citizens safely visit Mexico each year,” and says that "resort areas and tourist destinations generally do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major trafficking routes."
 

The city of Puerto Vallarta is the most important destination in the Banderas Bay. It is also a member of the “Most Beautiful Bays in the World” and is one of Mexico’s top destinations for family vacations.
 

The State Department said in a warning issued April 22 that some areas of Mexico posed “serious risks for US citizens.”
 

The new warning significantly expanded the scope of an alert that has been in effect since last September, adding five more of Mexico’s 32 states to the six states already listed in an earlier warning.
 

Mexico Tourism Board officials have been complaining the warnings are not specific enough.
 

A US State Department travel advisory issued over the Easter weekend warned Americans to avoid all but essential travel to 10 states in northern and central Mexico due to “ongoing violence and persistent security concerns,” up from six states named in a caution issued last September.
 

The latest advisory added warnings against non-essential travel to parts of Sonora, south of Arizona, and to parts of Mexico’s central Jalisco, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas states, where cartel violence has spiked in recent months.

It also kept in place warnings advising against non-essential travel to northern Tamaulipas and central Michoacan states, as well as parts of northwestern Durango and Sinaloa states and the border states of Coahuila and Chihuahua, south of Texas.
 

“Bystanders, including US citizens, have been injured or killed in violent incidents in various parts of the country, especially, but not exclusively, in the northern border region, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence throughout Mexico,” the warning said.
 

While the travel warning concedes "there is no evidence that U.S. tourists have been targeted by criminal elements due to their citizenship," it advises travelers to be aware of surroundings and exercise particular caution in unfamiliar areas."
 

By David Wilkening