Mexico: safe or not?

New reports coming out of Mexico raise danger signals even as the State Department’s latest alert is drawing praise from tourism officials who in the past have been highly critical of the government’s warnings.

"Americans should avoid all but essential travel to all or parts of 14 Mexican states," State says in its latest warning.

Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, chief operating officer for the Mexico Tourism Board, said:

"The Mexico Tourism Board has long advocated for travel advisories which abide by three key tenets: context, clarity and specificity. The revised US State Department travel advisory regarding Mexico adheres to these principles and should serve as model for the rest of the world."

The State Department’s updated travel warnings for tourists planning to visit Mexico have the distinction of being more specific than previous versions. They include information on drug violence on a state-by-state and city-by-city basis.

The travel warning urges Americans to defer nonessential travel to all or parts of the these 14 states: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit.

Travelers should also exercise caution visiting all or parts of Baja California, Colima and Morelos, it says.

However, no advisories are in effect for such popular tourist areas as the state of Quintana Roo (Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya and Tulum), southern Baja California (Cabo San Lucas), Guanajuato (San Miguel de Allende and Leon), Oaxaca (Oaxaca, Huatluco and Puerto Escondido) and Chiapas (San Cristobal de las Casas), as well as Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta and nearby Riviera Nayarit.

The report also notes, however, that "millions of US citizens safely visit Mexico each year for study, tourism and business."

"Shootouts, kidnappings and carjackings have climbed, as have cartels, also known as transnational criminal organizations (TCO)," said CNN.

"The TCOs themselves are engaged in a violent struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal activity. As a result, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country and can occur anywhere. US citizens have fallen victim to TCO activity, including homicide, gun battles, kidnapping, carjacking and highway robbery," the State Department alert says.

State says it wants Americans to lower their profiles and avoid displaying any evidence of wealth that could draw attention.

Despite the warnings, Mexico last year attracted a record number of visitors.

The number of air travelers from the United States to Mexico fell by 3% last year, but tourists from other countries — especially Brazil, Russia, Peru and China — registered sizable increases over 2010.

Travel operators and Mexican resorts have sought to fill rooms by offering discounts in places such as Acapulco. Tourism authorities have also launched successful nulti-million dollar campaigns to remind tourists of safe spots and various attractions of Mexico.

"Mexico remains a relatively affordable destination and, generally speaking, the tourist centers of well-known resort areas such as Cancun and Los Cabos have not suffered drug-related slayings," says the LA Times.

The number of US citizens reported to the Department of State as murdered in Mexico jumped from 35 in 2007 to 120 in 2011.

The previous US travel warning issued for Mexico by the State Department, dated in April, advised American to avoid travel to all or parts of 10 states.

By David Wilkening