Spring Breakers Avoiding Mexico Despite Deals

Just returned from a week in Mexico where the weather was sunny and warm, but the drug cartel violence is putting a stranglehold on the tourist business. The flip side of the crime wave is: There are some tremendous bargains in Mexico right now.

"There are amazing travel deals in most of the Mexican resort cities," said a woman at Protravel International on Riverside Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. "Some resorts are offering lots of  free credits for things available inside the resort," said the woman, who did not want to provide her name.

None of the travel agents I called in Sherman Oaks wanted to talk about how negative the Mexican tourism business has become. One agent told me that some of the major tour boats have cancelled stops at several Mexican ports.

The travel agent who booked my trip suggested I go somewhere else.

"Nobody is going to Mexico these days," he said. "People are getting kidnapped and murdered down there. Although Cabo is still fairly popular, but people are staying away from the Mexican mainland in droves," he added.

I didn't follow his advice. In fact,  after purchasing a nonrefundable round-trip ticket to Acapulco, I decided to Google the words "Acapulco murder" and here's what came up.

"Acapulco Killings-13 Killed in Drug Gang Violence"

"Acapulco Hit by Running Battles Between Drug Cartels"

"Another Murder in Acapulco"

Wow. I suddenly had visions of myself spending the week locked inside a room with a chair propped against the door. I was staying at the home of a Mexican friend who has a beachfront condo in the center of the city.

"The cartels are not interested in hurting you," he told me." They're killing each other, their rivals, the people who betray them, and the police. Not to worry," he said.

Was this supposed to comfort me?

 Actually, it turned out to be a peaceful, fun and relaxed week in the sun. Although the constant sight of armed Mexican soldiers riding around the city with black covers on their faces to conceal their identities was a bit off-putting. Soliders on the back of a truck waved me off when I attempted to take a photograph of them.

The major newspaper Reforma reported this week that 85 percent of the 100,000 American college students who spent spring break in Mexico last year are going somewhere else this year. Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta are hardest hit by the decline in spring break reservations, the newspaper reported.

Instead, "spring breakers are choosing such destinations as Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Thailand," according to Reforma.

This means that thousands of Mexicans who depend on tourism for income are facing a bleak spring. Talking here about hotel workers, taxi drivers, resort employees and the large numbers of men, women and children who walk along the beachfront trying to sell crafts to people on the strand.

At the Hotel La Palapa  on the waterfront, which usually attracts a large group of students on spring break, concierge Claudia Lubian told me, "We have no reservations this year. Prices are lower this year, but we still have not attracted spring break visitors." The hotel lobby was quiet, employees standing around.

Inside his office, travel agent Lazario Torres said, "Last year I handled 6,000 reservations, the year before that 10,000 spring breakers, but nothing this year because of the violence of the narcos."

Taxi drivers waiting for customers outside hotels were grim-faced. "Why do they have to report all the killings?" asked cabbie Francisco Hernandez. "It's not good news."

My host told me the violence is taking a major toll on the economy. "Mexico is a young country, with more than 50 percent of the people under the age of 30. They need jobs. Sixty percent of the people in this country are still poor," he said. "This crime is hurting everybody."

Walking around the city during the day, I did not sense that people were concerned about their safety. With a population of more than a million, there is an urban feel to Acapulco. Lots of empty tables at restaurants that cater to tourists.

Back in Sherman Oaks, the woman at Protravel said, "Some of the people who are booking Mexico simply stay inside their resort. And they are able to take advantage of the deals being offered where they are staying."