World Tourism Blog

Mexico Drug War Doesn’t Stop Americans From Moving South of the Border.

Bill Engle is outside, sweating in work clothes while he oversees renovations to his colonial house in Mérida, Mexico. It sits on a street dubbed “Gringo Gulch,” a pretty row of baby blue, violet, and mustard facades where expatriates outnumber Mexicans.

“It is not the climate,” says Mr. Engle, explaining why he moved to the Yucatán Peninsula. “It is the people. It is the most welcoming place.”

Americans scared off by violence in Mexico? Not here.

In towns far from the US border such as Mérida, Mexico’s drug wars seem like another world. In fact, according to a recent survey by the International Community Foundation, violence reduced the frequency or duration of trips to Mexico for only 7 percent of American retirees who live or travel frequently to Mexico.

No one knows how many foreign retirees, entrepreneurs, and families relocated to Mérida in recent years, but judging from real estate deals, new members to the English-language library, and observations by locals, it is not a few – nor is it ebbing.

‘As Safe as Seattle’
“I feel more part of a community here and safer or as safe here as I did in Seattle,” says Martha Lindley, a retired chaplain and lawyer who moved here three years ago.

Of 5.25 million Americans living abroad, 1 million are estimated to live south of the border. Some communities, such as San Miguel de Allende (a Heritage Site in central Mexico), seem virtual US suburbs. Mérida is becoming a magnet as transplants rush to buy old mansions and haciendas from the 19th century boom in henequen (a fiber used to make rope).

“I do not feel any violence here,” says Dan Karnes, a retired lawyer from New Orleans who moved here last year. He purchased an 18th-century colonial mansion, last used as a warehouse, and on a recent day was overseeing workers digging a pool foundation and laying an oval courtyard. When done, Mr. Karnes will boast an 18,300-square-foot home.

By SARA MILLER LLANA

Tourists enjoy the beach at the resort city of Cancun, Mexico in this photo taken on June 12, 2009. In towns far from the US border such as Mérida, Mexico's drug wars seem like another world. In fact, according to a recent survey by the International Community Foundation, violence reduced the frequency or duration of trips to Mexico for only 7 percent of American retirees who live or travel frequently to Mexico.

Tourism has become one of the most important industries in the world with significant growth potential. Mexico attracts most tourists in all of Latin America, and with over 20 millions visitors each year, it is among the top ten tourist destinations worldwide.

Tourism is one of the leading industries in the country, and the Mexican Caribbean relies largely on tourism. Pressure imposed on the environment by the drastic and constant increase of tourism in the Riviera Maya and Cancún – as well as the lack of sustainable planning and management in many of Mexico’s towns and cities over the past forty years – has led to an environmental crisis and the industry is urgently required to seek greater harmony between economic needs and environmental sustainability.

The industry is endangering the same natural resources that tourism relies on to attract visitors. To build large hotel and resort complexes, forests and mangroves have been cut down at an alarming rate, leading to coastal erosion. Inadequate waste and water treatment are polluting the cenotes, or underground rivers. These are just a few of the negative impacts irresponsible tourism development has had in the Mexican Caribbean.

In recent years, there has been a new trend in increased environmental consciousness, and many tourism businesses and developments companies, with the help of local and international NGOs, are working to reduce the impacts of new constructions. The government has also set aside protected areas, one of which is the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve in Quintana Roo, south of the Riviera Maya.

Unique Natural Treasure – UNESCO World Heritage Site

One of the most important protected areas in the Mexican Caribbean, the Biosphere Reserve of Sian Ka’an (Mayan for “Gift from the Sky”) is a place with an incomparable natural beauty and immense richness in flora and fauna. For these unique characteristics in biodiversity and its cultural treasures Sian Ka’an was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1987.

On January 20th 1986, Sian Ka’an was established as one of the first Biosphere Reserve in Mexico and also is part of the UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) program, which tries to find compromising ways of low human activity while securing the long term conservation of the area.

Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve spans for an area covering 652,000 hectares, making it the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean. Including the world’s second largest coastal barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, Sian Ka’an is the most important coastal protected area in Mexico.

The Biosphere Reserve of Sian Ka’an has gained significant importance as a destination for ecotourism and sustainable livelihood development projects for local communities. It is known for its biodiversity and various ecosystems, consisting of a mosaic of inland water canals, mangroves, marshes, and tropical lowland forests containing ancient Mayan sites.

There is also an abundance of wildlife including manatees, four species of marine turtles, as well as howler and spider monkey, crocodiles, the rare Jabiru Stork, and some of the most elusive large mammals in the region including jaguar, puma, ocelot and tapir. By 2008, over 370 bird species had been identified, from tiny little birds to giant birds the size of a small person.

By Yourtravelchoice

Biosphere Reserve of Sian Ka’an – “Gift from the Sky”

Beaches, markets, eco-tours and more in Oaxaca, but this unique place is not just for tourists

In the small Mexican beach town of Mazunte, there aren’t any cruise ships calling, no college-age hooligans binge drinking, and no towering hotels in all-inclusive resorts.

No, none of that.

Instead, in this sunbathed town on the Pacific Coast of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, locals come to dip in the ocean. Fishermen unload cases of sharks in the morning. Kids play beach soccer, with sticks in the sand for goals. Dirt roads lead to the shore. Locals lounge on hammocks, their houses a few hundred yards from the beach.

“I didn’t want to go to Cabo San Lucas and drink my face off in an all-inclusive resort,” said Sarah Evans, 41, from British Columbia, Canada, while she sunbathed. “It’s tranquil here. But it’s not exactly off the beaten path. There’s a lot of tourists here.”

Indeed, Mazunte isn’t exactly isolated. Foreigners — Italians, Argentinians, Canadians among others — have come here for years, and many have stayed, opening up cabana hotels, restaurants and bars. A steady stream of bohemian backpackers, couples and retirees dot the beaches. There’s a diverse range of attractions, but not just for tourists. In Oaxaca, Mexican life is lived right in front of you.

One of the largest states in Mexico, Oaxaca has sky-high mountains, arid valleys, lush tropical forests, cloud forests and beaches next to steep rocky hillsides that clash into the ocean.

There’s loud, glittering and elegant Oaxaca City, with a bustling colonial center. Around it are smaller towns, many featuring their own attractions, from textile-weaving to shops manufacturing mezcal — the iconic Oaxacan alcoholic drink made from the maguey plants.

There are the markets in the city and in smaller towns, where hundreds of people descend to browse a cornucopia of goods, including the culinary staples Oaxaca is best known for: Oaxacan chocolate, mezcal, string cheese, fried grasshoppers and mole.

By MANUEL VALDES Associated Press Writer

Two dancers circle each other while performing a traditional Mexican dance on March 8, 2010 in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca. One of the largest states in Mexico, the state features sky-high mountains, arid valleys, lush tropical forests, cloud forests and beaches next to steep rocky hillsides that clash into the ocean.

This week, as the weak winter sun did its best to warm my home state of Idaho, my husband and I began looking for a place to go with our kids (ages 9 and 11) and my parents over spring break.

The kids want the beach and snorkeling. My husband and I, fancying ourselves to be veteran travelers, will not set foot in a resort. My parents, having suffered adventure travel at our hands before, prefer an experience that is authentic but not life-threatening.

With all this in mind, I turned to 80 Degrees, a new online travel planner from the guidebook publisher Fodor’s.

80 Degrees, uses a quiz to help figure out what destination will deliver the trip you are looking for. The interactive tool asks you whether you want to go off the beaten path, stay safely in a resort, or venture somewhere in between. The quiz also helps define the attractions you seek, such as beaches, casinos, or child-friendly activities. Plug in the type of travelers, be it a romantic couple or a large group, and how much money is expected to be spent on lodging. After a few more questions about where and what, the site delivers a list of appealing options.

Right now, 80 Degrees is only set up to find winter escapes where the temperature hovers around a perfect 80 degrees. The company plans to roll out a European vacation version early this year, and some options for skiers after that, with a different name to reflect cooler climates.

Meanwhile, 80 Degrees directs its users to a host of sunny getaways in Belize, Mexico, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Florida and the Caribbean.

Like all worthwhile travel Web sites, 80 Degrees makes excellent reading on its own, even if a two-week stay in Virgin Gorda is nothing but a pipe dream. The destination ideas come with an online travel guide, and those mini-guidebooks include forums with a wealth of thoughtful reviews that drill down to the minutiae that can make or break a lodging experience at a particular hotel or resort — from helpful drivers to horror stories about bugs in the oven. About 700 writers work for Fodor’s, a venerable travel publisher that covers 500 destinations around the world. The guide’s hotel and restaurant listings are independent of advertising sales, according to Fodor’s staff.

The publisher’s main Web site — http://www.fodors.com/ — is a good place for travelers to learn more about areas they already know they want to visit. 80 Degrees helps the undecided figure out where that is.

“A lot of sites, if you know where to go, they’ll tell you different things to do in a particular location,” said Tim Jarrell, Fodor’s publisher. “We’re trying to inspire you. We’ve done our job if we give you a destination that perhaps you had not considered before you took the quiz.” Home Security Systems.

Forecasts for 2010 predict that more people will be traveling, but the numbers are still well below what they were before the recession. Still, if you can afford to get away, interesting events will drawing visitors to destinations around the world, from Shanghai to South Africa to Orlando.

And here’s a surprise: Mexico is turning up on some top 10 lists for 2010, despite the swine flu epidemic and worries over drug violence.

DESTINATIONS: Several destinations will be in the tourism spotlight in 2010 thanks to headline-grabbing events, including the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Feb. 12-28; the FIFA World Cup soccer games in South Africa, for a month beginning June 11; and the Shanghai World Expo, May 1-Oct. 31, a 21st century world’s fair that organizers are hoping will attract as many as 70 million visitors.

Another destination that will get attention in 2010 is Oberammergau, Germany, where the oldest continually acted Passion play in Europe has been performed by the locals roughly every 10 years since the 1600s. The show will be staged May through October, and is typically seen by a half-million people.

Spain is expecting more pilgrims traveling the Camino de Santiago, an ancient route to Galicia, where the cathedral is said to house the remains of St. James the Apostle. Typically the route draws more visitors when the saint’s Feast Day, July 25, falls on a Sunday, as it will in 2010.

Closer to home, Universal Orlando opens the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure this spring. For theme park fans keeping an eye on new attractions for 2010, “the Harry Potter project at Universal is in a category of its own in terms of scope,” said David Mandt, spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. The marquee attraction will be a high-tech ride called “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” that will take guests through scenes and rooms from the blockbuster Potter movies.

Universal Hollywood also has news for 2010. Its King Kong attraction, which burned down in 2008, is swinging back onto the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot tram tour next summer. The new 3D attraction, King King 360, will transport visitors to Skull Island where they will witness “the eighth wonder of the world” tussling with dinosaurs and other critters.

Disneyland’s California Adventure Park is also debuting a big new attraction in 2010 called World of Color. This unique nighttime water show uses a kaleidoscope of color, powerful fountains and audio and visual effects to take viewers on a journey through animated Disney classics like “The Lion King,” “Toy Story” and many others.

Disney will also be offering a free day’s admission to parks on both coasts to 1 million guests who complete a day of volunteer work in the new year. The “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” program will provide certified volunteers with a one-day ticket to any park at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., or Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. Disney is partnering with HandsOn Network, a clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities, to connect people with projects and to certify that the work was done.

And finally, never mind that worries about swine flu and drug violence led to a 12.5 percent decline in air travel to Mexico by U.S. citizens for the first nine months of 2009 compared to 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Lonely Planet’s U.S. staff’s top 10 list for 2010 declares that “H1N1 is so 2009,” and puts Mexico as the No. 4 destination for the new year, adding that it’s “still a good bargain, easy to get to for most Americans.”

Yahoo’s list of most popular cities for 2009, based on consumer interest and activity, includes Cancun and Cabo San Lucas. And Mexico City was on Frommer’s top destinations list for the new year.

George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com, says if flying to Mexico is too expensive, just drive to a port and take a “crazy cheap” cruise to Cancun. “Get the vaccine and don’t tangle with any drug lords,” he added.

But if even a cruise is beyond your budget, you can still be a trendy traveler by hopping in your car and driving to the nearest national park. Visits to national parks in 2009 were up 4.13 percent over 2008 — 286.2 million compared to 274.8 million — and that’s without even counting attendance for the entire month of December. The inauguration of President Obama helped draw visitors to park sites in Washington, but millions of Americans traveled to parks elsewhere, too, recognizing them as perfect destinations for a recession vacation.

ECONOMICS: Domestic leisure travel is expected to increase 2 percent in 2010, with an increase in leisure travel spending of nearly 5 percent, according to the U.S. Travel Association. IBISWorld, an industry research firm, forecasts an increase in tourism revenues for 2010 of just 1.2 percent.

But even with this small recovery, numbers for 2010 will be lower than they were in 2008. The USTA said travel expenditures in the U.S. are expected to total $712 billion in 2009, then rise to $745.2 billion in 2010 — still lower than the $772.9 billion in expenditures in 2008.

The World Travel & Tourism Council predicted that the industry worldwide would show a 5.5 percent decline for 2009 over 2008 once all the data is counted. For 2010, the organization’s president, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, said travel and tourism activity “is likely to be flat at best.”

The lodging forecast for 2010 from PricewaterhouseCoopers shows a small increase in the number of average daily rooms sold, up 2.5 percent to 2.68 million rooms in 2010, compared to 2.61 million in 2009. But that’s the lowest number since 2003. Hard money training.

Much of TEGUCIGALPA’s appeal is understated, with its main pleasure to be found in wandering the winding, narrow streets of the old centre, which meander haphazardly up the lower slopes of Cerro Picacho, the city’s dramatic, mountainous backdrop. Along these streets, crumbling colonial buildings give way to gently decaying nineteenth-century mansions and modern, airy homes, each a watermark of the city’s history. Even the constant cacophony, gridlock and pollution of the traffic-choked centre doesn’t detract entirely from the charm, and the comings and goings of hordes of vendors, beggars, idlers and passers-by provide entertainment for free. More concrete attractions include several well-preserved colonial churches, in particular the eighteenth-century cathedral on the Plaza Morazán, a handful of national museum and art collections, and several small, well-patronized parks.

Yet just west of the old centre, the character of the city rapidly becomes more menacing as you approach the banks of the Río Choluteca. On October 29, 1998, ten-metre-high floods caused by Hurricane Mitch ripped through the river valley, tearing down buildings in a tide of devastation that killed around a thousand people. Today virtually nothing has changed since the floods – vast mud deposits and garbage clog the banks and hundreds of vultures circle overhead in some worst scenes of urban decay in Central America. Cross one of the bridges and you’re in Comayagüela, always a poor barrio but now distinctly threatening after dark as poverty levels have increased following Mitch. Most visitors come here to visit sprawling market, or are simply passing through one of the city’s bus terminals, which are dotted around Comayagüela’s streets. Keep a very close eye on your possessions as you change buses. National Hard Money Association

México is a land of contrasts. From the vibrant colors woven into our textiles to the stunning hues of its landscape. From mountain ranges that run right down to the ocean’s edge to lush tropical jungles and high snow capped volcanoes.

The original people of México had advanced knowledge of science, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. That past still permeates this land. It can be found in the traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. It lives on the arts and music. And in the peculiar philosophy about life and death that make the Mexican people so unique and so charming.

So whether one comes to explore the archaeological treasures, wander through the colonial cities, or simply relax on the beautiful beaches, rest assured, one will take home memories and some of the magic of México as well.

México has a wealth of natural and cultural resources due to the diverse climatic conditions and to a historic tradition of more than 3,000 years. This makes the country an ideal destination for international tourists.