What would happen if Mexico published advisories warning against travel to the U.S.?
The secretary of travel for Mexico, Enrique de la Madrid Cordero, recently was interviewed by the editor of Travel Weekly magazine, and expressed considerable upset at the various advisories published by our U.S. State Department about travel to different parts of Mexico.
Every time, he said, that there is an outbreak of violence in or near a city of Mexico, our U.S. State Department quickly issues an advisory warning against travel to that location. The normal tourist, Mr. de la Madrid Cordero went on, is not endangered in the slightest by those developments. And yet, tourism virtually ceases to that place. For example, he went on, an isolated gang shooting near Playa del Carmen has badly affected tourism to Playa del Carmen and even nearby Cancun.
He then proposed a somewhat humorous test. Suppose, he said, that Mexico were to issue advisories against travel to various troubled spots of North America. Our entire nation, he went on, would be judged as too dangerous to visit.
Such an advisory against travel to the U.S. would be based on the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, the school shootings in California and Maryland, the placing of bombs in boxes delivered to addresses in Austin, Texas, and the mowing down of tourists by a vehicle careening along bicycle paths in New York City. If each of those were to be the subject of a Mexican advisory, hardly any Mexican would travel to the U.S. Yet we all know, he concluded, that travel in the U.S. is entirely safe for all ordinary purposes.
Surely there is a sensible message in these ruminations from this Mexican government official. It is possible that our U.S. State department is too eager to issue stern warnings against travel to certain Mexican cities. Are we all too arrogant about the question of whether there is any real risk to tourists from the occasional outbreaks in Mexico? Can we all continue to travel safely to such places as Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Tulum, San Miguel and Puerto Vallarta?