The recent World Travel & Tourism Summit in Las Vegas featured the Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, who spoke about his country as a safe tourist destination and tried to raise Mexico’s international profile.
For those who meticulously follow world news, Mexico may not seem like the most peaceful and safe country. Local drug cartels are causing a lot of trouble and the country’s police force is fighting against dealers.
Thousands of lives have been lost over the past twenty years and naturally, those who are weighing their holiday options carefully often opt for other destinations than Mexico. President Felipe Calderon is trying to turn this fact around. During his recent presence at the Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Las Vegas, he spoke frankly about his country’s struggles but also stressed the fact Mexico is a safe place for tourists.
Mr Calderon did not deny his country is currently dealing with drug violence; “We are working very hard prosecuting criminals, building our local and federal police force, building a community and working in the community”, the Mexican President said.
The country welcomed 23 million tourists in 2010, which is a significant increase from previous year. No major safety issues were raised as all the tourist resorts are thousands of miles away from the problem areas.
Mexican officials aim to improve the country’s tourist reputation, and while Mexico is currently the 10th most visited country, the plan is to be among top five. President Calderon announced 2011 shall be the year of tourism.
An additional $50 billion will be invested into improving the infrastructure, building new highways as well as expand airports. Mexico is certainly fighting for its place with a lot of focus and determination. Now the world only needs to wait for next year’s figures to see if Mexican efforts proved a success.
Mexico is a dangerous country to travel to period! A shocking 32% of all non-natural deaths of U.S. citizen’s outside this country occur in Mexico. Many of these deaths happen inside of the resorts and are a direct result of poor or nonexistent safety standards. To read tragic Mexico vacation death stories, as well as stories written by victims that “survived” their Mexico vacation, go to:
Mexicovacationawareness.com