Mexico: the “spring break” marked by calls from the United States not to travel
Tourists on a beach in Cancun, March 2021. REUTERS - STRINGER
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
As spring break begins for thousands of young Americans, the infamous
spring break
, a few days after the kidnapping of four American tourists and the death of two of them, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised American nationals against to go to Mexico.
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With our correspondent in Mexico,
Gwendolina Duval
The peak influx of
spring break
vacationers begins and will continue until the end of March.
Mexico is the favorite destination for these holidays synonymous with trips to the beach for thousands of university students, and endless parties full of excess.
► Also to listen: Mexico, the scourge of violence
Large all-inclusive resorts on the Quintana Roo coast occupy the top spots on spring break recommendation sites.
So the safety alert issued by Texas doesn't worry Jesus Almaguer, the president of the Cancun hotel association, in the least.
"
We haven't seen a significant drop,
" he said.
We're talking about 34,000 tourists in this market segment, it's not that many.
It dilutes pretty well in the 135,000
rooms we have in the state.
»
On March 3, four Americans were kidnapped by suspected drug traffickers in the border town of Matamoros in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.
Two of them were killed, a third was shot and a bystander was killed in the exchange of gunfire.
“
Safer than the United States
”
This region received 19 million tourists in 2022, mostly from the United States.
And the rise of insecurity in Mexico remains a taboo in the sector.
"
It has no influence because our strategy is to define exactly where there is violence,"
he explains.
We don't deny it, but where the problem of violence in Mexico lies is as far from Cancun and the Rivera Maya as it is from New York.
»
Asked about Washington's travel warnings to Mexico on Monday, President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said his country was "
safer than the United States and there are no problems with safe travel to Mexico.
".
In Quintaroo, tourism is one of the main activities.
It represents about 12% of the state's GDP.
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