U.S. Warns Citizens About Travel to Mexico’s Los Cabos, Tijuana, Cancun as Violent Crime Surges

The State Department’s decision to warn residents about travel to the resort cities “is a reality check for the booming towns and economy of Mexico,” he said.

Mexican officials have gone to lengths to portray the country’s beach resorts as family friendly and safe. Violent incidents “are extremely rare among the millions of international tourists who visit Riviera Maya each year, and the entire tourism industry works to ensure the safety and satisfaction of all visitors,” reads a statement on the website of the Assn. of Riviera Maya Hotels.

But 10 years into the country’s military-led drug war, violence is surging across the nation. This year, Mexico is on track to record more homicides than in any year in the last two decades.

Rising demand for heroin in the U.S. and power struggles among the country’s top drug cartels, authorities say, have led to an increase in killings in 27 of Mexico’s 32 states.

In Quintana Roo, the state where Cancun is located, 169 killings were reported from January to July, more than twice as many as during the same period last year.

In Baja California Sur, home to Los Cabos and Cabo San Lucas, 232 slayings have been reported this year, nearly four times as many as during the same period last year.

We went to Valentin Riviera Maya resort in July and it was calm and safe and very nice. My husband and I never travel but our grown children talked us into a family trip. How could we refuse? Hubby did all the research and gave in to go. He is the most cautious person you will meet. If this news came out before we went he would not have gone. We didn’t venture off the resort, no need. And we sure didn’t go out looking for night life in Cancun. Sad for those hard working people that make resorts run smoothly. They really made us feel special.

We have a trip to Ixtapa scheduled for the first week in February. We are going with a large group who travel there every winter for a week. They have not reported anything scary on their past trips.
We have been to Cabo 3 times in the last 5 years and had no issues. We don’t go off the reservation after dark however. We have been to various Mexican resorts about 10-11 times in the last 12 years and had no issues. Just gotta be careful.

My family and I have a cruise that stops in Cozumel, Belize and Honduras in September. We’ve booked an excursion through the cruise line for Belize and a beach resort for Cozumel. Hopefully all will be fine. Is a private beach in Cozumel with very high ratings on Trip Adviser and they limit the number of people on the property per day. I wonder if the cruise lines will take notice and change the itinerary due to the advisory.

You will have no trouble with the cruise company beach in Cozumel. It will be nothing buy you and a thousand other gringos. The danger in Cancun is visiting the city bar and club scene (where you can end up targeted for petty crime, drugged or caught in the middle of a cartel gunfight) and if you drive off into the country side to see the jungle or archaeological sites. Here you don’t have the cartel issues but the same old petty crime of tourists that has been around for decades. I’d still do it but take precautions. I took my family (5 teens and college age kids) for 10 days to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point as the Arizonans call it) a few weeks ago. It is on the Sea of Cortez only 90 minutes past the US border. It is an old fishing town that has turned into a tourist destination over the past few decades. Rule # I don’t drive at night in Mexico, Rule #2 I don’t hang out at the bars in town at night. Following those rules we had a wonderful beach vacation had great interactions with locals in markets, restaurants and at church. It’s too small and off the drug routes for much of a Cartel presence and the Mexican and local government are going out of their way too keep the cash cow for locals safe. On the highway between Arizona and Rocky Point they even have a “hassle free zone” where the Feds have warned the local cops not to play their pull you over for a bribe games. I would take my family there and feel safer any day than Washington DC, New Orleans, or Chicago.

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